Heavy Presence

Friday 10 November, 6 pm

Early one morning in 2018 two life-sized, white figures seated nonchalantly on wooden chairs mysteriously appeared in Guildhall Square, Southampton. 

The figures had been placed there by Robin Price and Kane Applegate, two of our founding members who had recently graduated from Solent University, and had cast themselves in plaster. The artwork declared the pair's intention to actively stay in a city that at the time had very little resources or opportunities for emerging artists. Their intervention 'Opposite, Working Girl' was accessible to the public by virtue of being outdoors, easily understood, and without restrictions or rules about how it could be interacted with. Being present for each other and our communities, taking pride in our city, and radically challenging how art can be made and experienced in Southampton are core values of ZEST Collective that predate even the founding of the collective. 

Our exhibitions and projects have always centred around our presence on Old Northam Road and the communities that surround it, where, with the support of 'a space' arts we have established ourselves over the last 3 years, delivering exhibitions, public art interventions and creative workshops for the benefit of local artists and local people.

ZEST Collective's 5th exhibition, ‘Heavy Presence’, comes at a time of change. We are in the process of relocating our studio spaces from the Alfred Arms on Old Northam Road, to Tower House on Winkle Street in the Old Town. The decision to leave was beyond our control and is a heavy one, ‘the little pub’ is where we started, where we have grown our art practices, our relationships to local communities, and to each other. 

Tower House, our new studios, presents an exciting and rare opportunity to strengthen ourselves as an organisation, build on our collaborations with 'a space' arts and expand our efforts more widely in the city. Despite our relocation we will be a continued presence on Old Northam Road, supporting the Ripe graduate programme, exploring the potential of new spaces on the road, continuing to build our relationships with local communities, and, of course, installing playful public art interventions that challenge perceptions of Southampton and its artistic community.

The work shown here has been made by ZEST artists during, and in spite of, this time of upheaval. This exhibition is a reaffirmation that we are present in the city, and that we aren’t going anywhere.

Exhibiting artists include: Jenny Andrews, Kane Applegate, Poppy Ash, Ellen Gillett, James Hewins, Maryam Kazimi, Bryn Lloyd, Anna Marris, Katie Mullender, Robin Price, Mandy Smith, Alex Sutherland, Annabel Tennyson-Davies, Fred Thornton, Sharlott Wardner, Net Warner