Recreational Grounds: The Factory Project is a group exhibition curated by Recreational Grounds in an old sugar warehouse in East London. It is part of the ambitious presentation produced by Thorp Stavri coinciding with London's Frieze week and held at the Thameside Industrial Estate, from 9 - 22 October 2021.

Mahieux Bartoli’s current body of work presents a series of cyanotypes on silk, derived from the plans of spacecraft. The works are ‘blueprints’ in process and concept: the cyanotype technique was used in the 19th century for architectural and engineering technical drawings. They create a tension between the transparency and delicacy of the fabric and the massive carapace of the spacecraft they allude to. Highlighting humanity’s fragility and curiosity, these pieces are tactile and theatrical, immersive in their scale and responsive to movement. The title of the series, Extrasolar - ’beyond the solar system’ - refers to the sun’s role in the making process of the cyanotypes, and anchors our place in the galaxy, along with our desire to know what is beyond it.

Thorp Stavri:

Transforming an out of use Factory in the Thameside Industrial Estate, The Factory Project is an independent museum-scale exhibition, showcasing the work of 10 curatorial partners and over 110 artists. Conceived by curators Eric Thorp and Nicholas Stavri, The Factory Project has been initiated to support emerging to mid-career artists and curators. It is presented as a multi-disciplinary survey project that showcases 10 unique exhibitions within the larger factory site.None of the curators invited to partner on this project have permanent bricks and mortar space, meaning The Factory Project offers them and the artists they are working with a rare opportunity – especially in London.

Recreational Grounds:

Recreational Grounds selects artists based on a curiosity in their practice, with the goal of providing them with a platform for developing their work, and a brief to inspire improvisation. Our site in Wendover House on the Aylesbury Estate offers a structure that creates an automatic common ground for the artists, allowing an interplay between the works, and a conversation on how to hold onto the core elements of their practice whilst being challenged to improvise and experiment.

The Factory Project on the old Tate And Lyle site will provide a similar experience, a weathered and beaten building that has seen generations of labour and productivity will set the scene. It is a chance to be bold and try new things. We are ambitious and the work will spill out to fill the space, we will use the height, the architecture and the light that filters through the huge expanse of windows to activate our responsive artworks.

Rather than being didactic and selecting works for presentation from a studio our works tend to be built in situ, creating room for experimentation, playfulness and unexpected outcomes. Initial studio visits have involved conversations about the transformation that occurs during the production process and material qualities.