Coachwerks 2008-13
Coachwerks began as a desire to be among a permanent community of artists. It was something of an evolution of the principles of publishing (that is to say, making ideas public) and agency that I laid out in Bookville with Maggie Tran. Whereas Bookville had been popup by nature, I was looking to develop a place where the principles were brought into practice over a longer duration. I wanted to see how they would develop so I might begin to fathom the dynamics of community emergence.
I had been working on a small popup space in an attic in Hove when the owner decided to take out a lease on an ex coach garage in Hollingdean, north Brighton and asked me to make what I wanted. By early October 2008, I had moved in and began gathering people who wanted to make something together. By May the following year, Coachwerks was running regular events for the arts and community and by 2010 had functioning studios, including a darkroom, dance studio, sound recording studio, woodworking and screenprinting.
I left the work to the community in 2013, after which it continued to evolve and support artists and the neighbourhood.
