If I am successful in receiving the £10,000 bursary, I would use the funding to significantly develop the visual and participatory aspects of my interdisciplinary practice. While my academic background lies in sound and experimental composition (M.Mus in Critical and Experimental Composition, BA Liberal Arts with a major in Music), I am a self-taught visual artist. This award would enable me to formalise and deepen my skills in sculptural installation techniques – particularly in materials such as metal, wood and ceramics – broadening the range and complexity of my multisensory installations.
I have recently undertaken short courses at the London Sculpture Workshop, which sparked a strong interest in expanding the physical dimensions of my work. With the bursary, I plan to invest in further specialist training and mentorships, particularly in kinetic and large scale sculpture, which aligns with the immersive, interactive nature of my practice. This technical growth will allow me to integrate visual and tactile elements with sound more cohesively, creating more ambitious and engaging installations.
A second focus of the funding will be on developing my facilitation skills. Community collaboration is increasingly central to my work, particularly in amplifying underrepresented voices through sound and storytelling. While I have already worked with children, older adults, and SEND individuals, my approach so far has been intuitive and self-developed. I want to formalise and strengthen this part of my practice by undertaking training in inclusive facilitation and participatory arts methodologies – potentially through a qualification or CPD courses. This would equip me to better co-create work with a wider range of communities in meaningful, sustainable ways.
Overall, the Dover Prize would mark a significant step change in my development as a socially engaged, interdisciplinary artist, and I feel in the current cultural landscape this a time when communities are crying out for high quality, participatory arts projects – with my own aim of celebrating and inspiring people to be creative. It would allow me to grow both technically and conceptually – bridging sound and sculpture, deepening collaboration, and expanding the impact and accessibility of my practice.
Community, co-creation, and interaction are central to my practice, and I would love to bring this ethos to Darlington. I am particularly interested in embedding local narratives and site-specific nuances into my work – whether through storytelling, placemaking, or hands-on community involvement. My recent projects, such as Send Suicide Packing and Planting Healthy Minds in Redditch, demonstrate how co-created installation work can engage diverse groups meaningfully while amplifying local voices.
If selected for the Dover Prize, I would incorporate a short participatory phase into the development of my final work, inviting residents of Darlington and the surrounding area to contribute to the creative process. This could include facilitated workshops or interviews exploring local identity, memory, or space – creating an opportunity for people to feel seen, heard, and part of the artistic outcome.
My practice has always aimed to open up contemporary installation and sound art to wider audiences. By working closely with local communities and producing an ambitious, high-quality final installation rooted in the voices and textures of Darlington, I hope not only to raise the profile of the arts in the area, but to leave a legacy of creative engagement and shared authorship.
I am a multimedia and sound artist based between Birmingham and London, working across installation, sculpture, sound, and performance. My work explores how audiences can become active participants – observers, listeners, and co-creators – within immersive environments. In the past year, I have exhibited and created work across a range of solo and group settings, as well as gallery and community based installations. My recent solo exhibition Moments of Degradation (2024), commissioned by spudWORKS and the New Forest National Park Authority, transformed a curated natural space into a multisensory sound and sculpture installation. This followed Sound and Purpose (2023), an interactive exhibition at Clothworkers Centenary Concert Hall, as part of the Univeristy of Leeds Contemporary Music Festival. My upcoming installation Nellie will appear in Portable Frictions at Koppel Heights, London (2025). It focuses on memory, space and intergenerational communication – emitting light and sound from a fragile fabricated space made up of questions on identity, faith and personality.
Community collaboration is integral to my practice. I was lead artist on Send Suicide Packing (2024–2025), a co-creative installation about male mental health with AHead of Wellbeing CIC. I also co-led Planting Healthy Minds (2024), working with over 20 workshops to produce The Apples Are All Talking Now, an installation merging clay, voice, and community storytelling. I have recently presented work in Ritual (2024) at Ugly Duck, London; SPUD Open: Digital Dreaming (2023), Sway; Beneath the Earth at Fronteer Gallery, Sheffield; and Magic of Transformation at D31 Art Gallery. I also presented work in the group show Ma (2025), produced by KAYDMF, in the form of a soundscape built from interviews exploring space and artistic collaboration. My performance practice further informs my installation work. I’ve performed at Humber Street Gallery (Talking to the Tide, 2025), CAD RED CLOSET (Notated Body II, 2024), and as a percussionist with Big Sky Orchestra during their Birmingham residency. Across all formats, my work seeks to build spaces for reflection, connection, and shared sensory experience. Sound, sculpture, and participation are tools through which I work to create dialogue, story-sharing, and collective meaning.
I have been commissioned by Reimagine Redditch, a Creative, People and Places project, funded by the Arts Council, formed by a consortium of Redditch Town Council and a series of charitable partners and Arts networks. This project was titled ‘Planting Healthy Minds’ and you can read more about at the two links below:
https://www.reimagineredditch.org/project/planting-healthy-minds-well-being-project-redditch/
https://www.benadamson.art/copy-of-moments-of-degradation
Yes, in an article focussing on my performance art piece, The Notated Body II (2024), in the magazine Dweller. Find details about the article the following link: https://www.dwellermagazine.com/blog/freedom-in-the-face-of-absurdity
In October 2023 I was an Artist in Residence at spudWORKS Gallery as part of The New Forest National Park Artists in Residence. I was provided with 6 months of mentoring by artist Alex Julyan, another artist in residence, a small grant to complete my project and this culminated in a multisensory installation called Moments of Degradation (2024). I maintain a strong relationship with spudWORKs and have since exhibited work in group shows there.
Email: benadamson68@gmail.com
Address: 43 Bittell Road, Barnt Green, Birmingham, West Midlands, B45 8LU, GB
Local Authority: Bromsgrove District Council
