NEVER GROW UP – a site-specific installation by Lada Wilson  

Every time Wilson creates an artwork, she tells a story: about a world containing fragments, leftovers from the past, artefacts of new discoveries – elements put together and composed especially for its location (here, inside a red telephone box).  

This time, Wilson’s story is about play – its presence and absence – and how people think that when they ‘grow up’ they must stop playing.  

By questioning this, Wilson’s performance on the 7th of May 2022 will activate the installation at the 128 Telephone Box Gallery and will mark the inauguration of another gallery in a K6 phone booth, as well as celebrating J. M. Barrie’s birthday (9^thMay), whose Peter Pan inspired and gave a reference point for Wilson’s installation.

About the Artist

LADA WILSON  

Lada Wilson interrogates the nature of language to create new associations between culture, site and audience, often realised through performance and sculpture.

Wilson’s work is site-specific, responding directly to the nuances and historical associations of a given site. The reconfiguration of these sites is crucial to the reading of her work and in generating collaborative engagement with her audience.

This connection with the audience becomes a key part of the process and is required to realise a work; creating a new experience for both Wilson and her audience.

Wilson uses language as a vehicle to explore the spatial properties, reworking words as sculptures, performances, artist books and exhibitions.

Artefacts of Wilson’s performances include customised costumes and photo and video documentation, which are then exhibited, representing the final stage of this performative process.

Wilson is the curator of the 201 Telephone Box Gallery, an artist-led project: a contemporary art gallery in a disused telephone box adopted by the Strathkinness Community Trust. All exhibitions, by national and international artists, aim to be collaborations between the artist, curator and local community.

Special thanks from the 128TBG to our sister K6; the 201 Telephone Box Gallery for the inspiration and all the support.

Communication and connection are big words and concepts but they play important roles in our lives. The ways we communicate and connect with each other are intrinsic to our everyday existence and can be inspirational. The idea of ‘communication’, in its broadest sense, is the curatorial concept behind the smallest gallery in Strathkinness, Fife – the 201 Telephone Box Gallery – which was established four years ago in a K6 telephone booth by artist, curator and lecturer Lada Wilson.

This May sees the opening of the 128 Telephone Box Gallery in Kirriemuir, which is inspired by and based on the model established by the 201 Telephone Box Gallery.

The 128 Telephone Box Gallery in Kirriemuir takes the concept of ‘connection’ as its curatorial concept and is curated by artist, curator and lecturer Deirdre Bennett.

The 128 Telephone Box Gallery and 201 Telephone Box Gallery are planning to support each other and to engage in joint projects in the future that will bring innovative contemporary art to their communities.  

Through communication and connection, the network of small red galleries grows and provides an opportunity to showcase contemporary art in iconic structures, in keeping with their historical heritage but also creating new stories, new histories.  

To contact Wilson or to find out more about her practice, visit her website and social media pages. Also, visit Wison’s 201 Telephone Box Gallery. More links at the end of the page.