The collision Artist residency at the Southbank Centre in London was part of a year long festival called Nordic Matters. I was invited to participate to work with 11 artists from Scandinavia who invited 11 UK artists to discuss and create possible ideas for future projects and collaborations.

On our first day we were invited to attend the opening of the festival and we joined delegates from all the Nordic countries. The event was opened by Jude Kelly the artistic director of the Southbank Centre and the Ministers for Culture from England and The Nordic Council of Ministers which is the official intergovernmental body for cooperation in the Nordic Region. The Council brought together representatives of the governments of Denmark, Sweden, Norway Finland and Iceland, as well as the three autonomous areas, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland Islands.

During the residency all the participating artists gave a presentation on their work and we had time to discuss the their interest and what motivates the artist to produce their work. The group of artists was made up of visual artists, theater directors, choir directors, writers, poets, film makers, musicians, potters, sculptures, Installation artists, actors and creative thinkers.

Every day we had studio time to develop and work on ideas and simply think about the art of making art. The spirit of the residency was to share ideas, discuss possibilities for future collaborations, without the pressure to really produce a finished piece of work. This allowed all artist to focus on creative thinking and produce some inspirational ideas and focused work.

Myself and the artist from the Faroe Islands Kristina Sorensen Ougaard who invited me to collaborate with her in this project, worked on different ideas during the week, as we had different places to work in, from the main auditorium at the Festival Theatre, to smaller theaters and even rehearsal rooms.

The fabric of the Southbank Centre nurtures creativity in its essence and there is a vibe in the building of collaboration, help and camaraderie which spans from the Artistic Director Jude Kelly to the person who works in the bars and restaurants. All the spaces in the building are being used all the time by professional and community users and incredibly it works.

The work we produced was of a very experimental nature using film, sound, dance, performance and drawing and we produced some pieces that hopefully we can develop in the future in the Faroe Islands or Gibraltar.