I am an artist-noisemaker with MA in Sound Arts from UAL and trained Theatre of the Oppressed (TO) practitioner. I am developing a radically participatory project, Upcycle Sound Commons, which includes workshops, performances, sonic storytelling, games, community discussions, TO.
To move my practice forward, I want to work with diverse communities in Darlington — learning about their values, interests and challenges. Through this process, I aim to co-create a participatory performance that reflects their lived experiences and supports local efforts towards social change, mental health, and collective responsibility.
This commitment to community-led creativity is at the heart of my artistic and personal philosophy.
It will help me shape a new artistic genre—one without consumers or spectators, but ‘spect-actors’. This pursuit is deeply meaningful to me both as an artist and as a person.
I want to deepen my learning with my TO teachers, Sanjoy and Sima Ganguli — founders of Jana Sanskriti, India’s largest Centre for TO. They have pioneered community theatre in rural West Bengal since the 1980s, working alongside low-caste agricultural workers and women to support social transformation, including organising responsible citizens’ committees, mothers’ committees, and youth committees.
They have invited me to return to West Bengal in autumn 2025 — not only to participate in a festival, as I did in December 2024, but to deepen my practice by working closely with communities in the villages.
This immersive experience will allow me to learn directly from their social and theatrical practices, which I plan to bring back and adapt in Darlington, as discussed with Sanjoy and Sima.
If funding permits, I would be grateful to cover my travel and visa costs for this journey; accommodation and local transport will be provided through my volunteer role.
I hope to bring Sanjoy and Sima to Darlington as training facilitators to support my research and artistic development. The funding would specifically enable me to cover the costs of this facilitation, undertake immersive community research in Darlington, and develop collaborative workshops that bridge local experiences with innovative performance methods. This also includes travel and accommodation expenses for me (based in London) and for Gangulis.
My participatory project, Upcycle Sound Commons, creates inclusive spaces where people of all backgrounds can experiment, play and create together. Using discarded materials, we build simple instruments, explore sonic storytelling, and co-compose performances that reflect our shared experiences. These acts of collective creativity foster togetherness, spark joy, and reveal hidden artistic potential — even among those with no formal arts training.
In past workshops, participants consistently describe feelings of connection, empowerment and surprise at their own creativity. One theatre-maker told me they never thought they could design or build objects — until they felt inspired by others’ openness and the inviting simplicity of the process. Others say that composing as a group made them feel powerful, despite never having considered themselves musical.
This project offers Darlington a fresh, accessible model for community engagement in the arts — one that is multidisciplinary, multilingual, and non-verbal when needed. It invites everyone, not just artists, to become co-creators. I hope to connect with local groups, schools and cultural partners to embed this playful, politically-conscious practice in the region, amplifying voices, encouraging self-expression and making creativity an everyday act of citizenship.
I am an interdisciplinary artist working at the intersection of sonic storytelling, theatre games, discarded materials and found objects, collective devising, and live participatory performance. Visually and sonically drawn to assemblage, collage, and the Aesthetics of the Oppressed, my work explores layered, co-created narratives grounded in lived experience and shared imagination.
With an MA in Sound Arts from the University of the Arts London (2019), and training in Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), I develop participatory projects that integrate sound, storytelling and improvisation. I am the author of Upcycle Sound Commons—a growing, community-rooted project using discarded materials to co-create noise, music and meaning. Its sessions support playful, collaborative exploration of pressing themes including protest, climate anxiety, belonging and care. I have delivered this work in settings ranging from London’s Southbank and Folkestone’s Peace Day to West Bengal’s rural theatre festival Muktadhara-X.
My approach blends arts and crafts with group composition, sonic improvisation, TO techniques, and interactive performance. I am especially drawn to non-verbal communication, exploring how sound, image, and gesture allow expression beyond language—particularly for those excluded by linguistic or social barriers.
Earlier in my career, I was an award-winning filmmaker and magazine writer in Moscow (1993–2012), before turning to oral history-based art and socially engaged storytelling. Since 2021, I have collaborated with community theatre and participatory art groups including LegalAliens, Akwaaba, RODLAB, Stories of Migration, and Seria_Number (UK/Ukraine). I have also created sound designs, facilitated workshops, and exhibited interactive installations across the UK.
In May 2025, I presented ‘Composing a Proposal for the New Rave World’ at Riverside Studios—a live, immersive performance that blends acousmatic voice, lighting, found materials and audience-led composition.
I maintain the volunteer platform Beheard.art, which amplifies collective and individual voices through storytelling and sound. My practice is grounded in the belief that everyone is not only a consumer but also a creator—especially when we come together.
Yes, I hold a Master’s degree in Sound Arts (with distinction) from the University of the Arts London (UAL), London College of Communication, completed in 2018. This postgraduate programme was central to the development of my current interdisciplinary practice, allowing me to explore sound as a social, spatial, and political medium. It helped me build a framework for combining sonic storytelling, performance, and participation, which now shapes all aspects of my work—from community workshops and collaborative installations to large-scale participatory performances.
Yes. In 2015, I was awarded First Prize at the 9th Festival In Out by the Łaźnia Centre for Contemporary Art in Poland for my experimental short film Seasicknesses (2013). The work was recognised for its innovative use of oral storytelling and sound design, combining the narrating voices of invisible humans with rolling ocean visuals and a layered soundscape. This award affirmed my early explorations into blending sonic storytelling with visual abstraction and socially engaged themes.
Also in 2015, I undertook an artistic residency FONLAD in Coimbra, Portugal, focused on video art and performance. This residency provided a significant opportunity to develop my interdisciplinary practice, experiment with new media, and present work in a cross-cultural and collaborative environment.
These professional experiences have greatly influenced my approach, encouraging an ongoing commitment to socially rooted, participatory and multisensory forms of art-making.
Yes. I am actively involved in self-initiated and collaborative artist-led projects. One example is my ongoing collaboration with RODLAB — the Rainbow of Desire Laboratory — a grassroots, artist-led initiative founded by Naresh Kaushal and Paul Formosa. RODLAB is a self-learning, self-organising space rooted in Theatre of the Oppressed (TO), where artists, facilitators, and community members come together to share practices, test ideas, play games, and support each other’s growth.
I first connected with RODLAB through this space for mutual learning and experimentation. From this connection, I initiated a collaborative performance project we now develop together as the RNW Collective. Our project, Writing a Proposal for the B̶r̶a̶v̶e̶ Rave New World, is a radically participatory performance exploring sound, found materials, collective composition, and embodied dramaturgy. It has evolved through shared devising, TO-inspired exercises, and community workshopping.
This form of self-created professional engagement is central to my practice. It allows for open-ended, non-hierarchical collaboration and helps generate new artistic methods rooted in collectivity, social reflection, and play.
I have been commissioned as an artist by several public institutions. In April 2025, I delivered a paid creative upcycling workshop titled Noise For Cleaner Earth at the University of the Arts London (UAL), as part of Earth Week in collaboration with the Climate Emergency Network. This workshop engaged participants in sustainable sound-making using discarded materials to promote environmental awareness.
Looking ahead, I am commissioned to lead a similar workshop, Noise for Cleaner Deptford, in July 2025 at the Creekside Discovery Centre during the Deptford X festival. In October 2025, I will also participate as a commissioned artist at the Plug It Up festival by Yorkshire Sound Women Network C.I.C., leading a creative upcycling workshop, Junk Instruments, at Theatre in the Mill, University of Bradford.
Previously, in 2019, I was commissioned for the Destination East Finchley project, an interactive online archive based on storytelling and community diversity, organised by Martin Primary School and funded by the National Lottery. This work involved documenting and celebrating the stories of local residents through multimedia approaches.
These commissions reflect my commitment to socially engaged, participatory art practices within public cultural and educational institutions, focusing on community empowerment, sustainability, and collaborative storytelling.
No, my artwork has not been purchased by a public collection to date.
My exhibition project 25 Rebellion Road / Imaginary Room, (Lower Gallery at the Rich Mix, London, in October 2016), was featured in The Calvert Journal (a digital magazine of contemporary New East culture, closed in 2022); Artrabbit.com; mutualart.com; local arts coverage and online community platforms dedicated to socially engaged art and oral history. This exhibition combined a total installation of a time capsule with objects and multimedia presenting invisible substances. The room harboured a rebellious energy that had been accumulating for the previous 25 years.
The Destination East Finchley project (2017–2019), an interactive online archive celebrating diversity and migration in East Finchley, was featured in The Archer local newspaper, highlighting community stories and cultural heritage.
In 2022, I curated Fragile Brutalism, a Ukrainian design and architecture project, for which I also created an oral history collection. The exhibition toured from Goldsmiths University, London, to the Brutalist Society in Manchester. It was featured online by both the Modernist Society and Manchester’s architectural school and in a paper publication by ‘the modernist’ (Manchester). For this project, and the medium.com,Additionally, my 2015 residency FONLAD in Coimbra, Portugal, was featured in a Portuguese newspaper, highlighting my experimental video art and performance work during that period.
I authored an article for The Guardian titled “How to Make Integration Mutual” (2019), reflecting my engagement with social issues through writing.
My earlier video art works were featured in paper publications, for example, Blau Stunde X (Koeln, Germany), In Out Festival 2015-2020 jubilee publication (Poland), materials of the symposium ‘Lost (and Found) in the Archive’ (Latvia).
No, I am not currently represented by a gallery.
My practice is primarily project-based, participatory, and socially engaged, which often sits outside the traditional gallery model. Instead, I have developed and presented work in collaboration with grassroots organisations, educational institutions, charities, festivals, and community groups. These include Riverside Studios, the University of the Arts London, LegalAliens, Stories & Supper, South London Refugee Association, RODLAB, and the Yorkshire Sound Women Network.
My work frequently unfolds in public or shared spaces—such as community centres, schools, theatres, streets, or online platforms—and is often co-created with participants. While not represented in a commercial sense, my projects have received recognition and support through commissions, residencies, and partnerships, and have been featured in both local and international contexts.
This independent approach allows me to maintain flexibility, centre collaboration, and develop work that is responsive to specific communities and social contexts.
Yes. In 2015, I took part in the FONLAD (Online Festival for Digital Arts) artist residency and festival in Coimbra, Portugal. FONLAD was a recognised international platform for experimental video, performance, and digital art, supporting artists exploring innovative, interdisciplinary practices.
During the residency, I developed new work at the intersection of performance and experimental video, focusing on themes of invisibility, displacement, and memory. This period allowed me to expand my creative vocabulary, engage in peer exchange, and test ideas in a public context, culminating in a live presentation at the festival.
The residency provided both critical feedback and international exposure, and my work was later featured in the Portuguese press. It also contributed to the development of my total installation and exhibition project 25 Rebellion Road / Imaginary Room (Rich Mix, London, 2016), as well as future participatory and sound-based practices.
Though my subsequent work has often taken place outside of conventional residency models—embedded in community settings and artist-led initiatives—my experience at FONLAD was formative, reinforcing the value of time and space for experimentation, and connecting me with a broader network of artists and curators engaged in socially aware and time-based practices.
Email: margarita.novikova@gmail.com
Address: 1 Orchard Court, 27 Clifford Road, Barnet, Hertfordshire, EN5 5PQ, GB
Local Authority: London Borough of Barnet.
(This area falls within the Barnet Vale ward and the Chipping Barnet parliamentary constituency.
Barnet Council website: https://www.barnet.gov.uk)
