At Middleport Pottery the artists have led an explorative project, creating a series of temporary structures, interventions and soundscapes across the site. The iconic interior of the bottle kiln, the hidden corners and traces of former factory buildings become active, contemplative spaces where visitors experience the layered qualities of this extraordinary site of living heritage.

The artists, Guillaume Dujat (Sound Artist), Helen Felcey (Artist Curator), Kieran Hanson (Film-maker) and Joe Hartley (Product Designer) have come together as an interdisciplinary team to shape and create Resonating Spaces. Over three months, the group have been working with members of Burslem Jubilee Project, as co-producers and participants in the exploration and expression of collective outcomes.

Lengths of willow and hazel have been re-introduced to the factory landscape. These materials were used extensively for the making of crates for transporting fragile wares on their journey along the canal and out in to the world. Here, they are utilised in building temporary structures, in which making activities including brick-making and component assembly will take place.

Experimental sounds recordings taken from across the factory are digitally reconfigured and re-played through clay slabs arrayed within storage spaces.

The inner chamber of Middleport’s sole remaining bottle kiln, provides the atmospheric setting for unfamiliar sonic compositions, marking the rhythms of the factory and capturing clay in transformational states. Visitors are invited to play their part, adding dry clay into the mix contributing to this curious soundscape.

Resonanting Spaces

Artists: Guillaume Dujat, Helen Felcey, Joe Hartley, Kieran Hanson

Burslem Jubilee Project: Sarah Delvari, Dalit Fischman, Jane Kelsall, Mehdi Mohammadi, Taraneh Noroozi, Sheila Podmore, Mehdi Rostami, Sharam Vafa, Asal Vahedi, Dianne Yeadon