If awarded this funding, I aim to investigate the legacy of hostile and containment-driven architecture and its ongoing influence on how public space is accessed and shaped. As our shared environments are increasingly defined by security measures, commercial interests, and exclusionary design, public space is feeling less and less public. I plan to respond to this shift.
This funding will support the development of new technical skills in slip-casting at Glasgow Sculpture Studios, under the guidance of experienced technician Mark McQueen. The process will involve mould-making, experimentation, and refining a new body of sculptural work. Using slip-cast ceramic and porcelain, I will cast forms taken directly from hostile architecture such as security spikes, fencing and anti-sitting spikes, into delicate sculptures. The use of these materials will contrast with the durable, coercive materials typically found in hostile design, highlighting tensions between vulnerability and power.
Importantly, these ceramic forms will not remain confined to the gallery. I plan to reinstall them back into public space, placing them near or alongside the original structures they reference. I will work with local communities and businesses in Glasgow to find appropriate and safe locations, and document the process through a series of videos, which will be artworks in themselves.
Once installed, these ceramic and porcelain objects will sit alongside their real, often aggressive looking counterparts, disrupting expectations of the urban landscape. Returning these forms to their original settings draws attention and also invites public reflection on their presence, function, and consequences. By engaging directly with public space, the work opens up new ways to consider who space is designed for, and what our role is in shaping it.
If awarded the Dover Prize, I would plan a research visit to Darlington to explore and identify any examples of hostile design or other subtle forms of exclusionary infrastructure in the area.
I would then reinterpret these features through slip-casting ceramic and porcelain, and reinstall them back in the public realm, beside their original counterparts. I would work alongside locals to find appropriate and safe locations for these reinstallations. The project invites conversation on their presence. Bringing this process to Darlington would deepen my research and also create opportunities for local engagement through site visits.
This approach could raise the profile of creative arts in the area by highlighting how site-responsive practices can bring new perspectives to familiar spaces. The project would connect with Darlington’s public in a tactile, visual way, generating discussion around design, access, and the ways we share our cities.
My practice investigates the politics of public space, shaped by years of close engagement with the urban environment. I am particularly interested in the rise of hostile and containment-driven architectural strategies in contemporary city design. Through public interventions and studio-based works in sculpture, painting, film, and performance, I aim to challenge the idea that public space is fixed or out of reach, encouraging viewers to reconsider how they relate to it. A key part of my process involves reclaiming materials tied to restriction and security, sourced directly from public settings and recycling centres, and reworking them through painterly or sculptural processes. These transformed objects are then reintroduced into galleries or back into public space, where their origins and altered states aim to start conversation around the increasing securitisation of urban life. Many of these interventions are temporary or transient in nature, subject to being cleaned away, removed, or worn down by their environment. This impermanence becomes part of the work, reflecting the fragility of public access and the shifting conditions of urban space. By shifting the function and context of these materials, my work creates a tactile, human response to systemic issues like gentrification, exclusion, and the loss of communal space. I’ve recently exhibited work at the UNESCO-listed Völklingen Ironworks, Cromwell Place for the Ingram Prize, Het Hem Art Centre in Amterdam and the Royal Hibernian Academy.
Yes. I received a BA in Printmaking from the National Collage of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland. I also received an MA in Painting from the Glasgow School of Art, UK, in 2017.
Yes. In terms of funding, I’ve received the Agility Award in 2021 and 2022 from the Arts Council of Ireland. I’ve also received the Open Fund for Individuals from Creative Scotland. I am a recipient of the Gilbert Bayes Award for early career sculptors from the Royal Sculpture Society in London for this year (class of 2025). I was shortlisted for the Ingram Prize in 2023 and lastly, I won the Art Matters Prize from Galerie Biesenbach in 2021.
The most significant independent project I lead is Post Vandalism, a platform that began as a social media archive of artworks exploring the intersection of art-making and transgression. Since then, it’s developed support from a wide international community and inspired an edition of Kunstforum International, Germany’s leading journal for contemporary art. Through the platform, I’ve curated exhibitions in Amsterdam, London, Rome, and Dublin, bringing together artists whose practices speak of authorship, public space, and resistance.
In addition, I co-founded the London-based curatorial collective Pigeon Park, which organises large-format exhibitions in industrial spaces. This initiative emerged in response to the threats faced by artists in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, aiming to create new opportunities for collaboration and visibility in the face of growing precarity. Included in these shows were well known artists such as Jeremy Deller, Mark Leckey, Eva Rothschild, Richie Culver and Jonny Banger, but also emerging artists like George Kitty, Christopher Stead and Jo Dennis.
Yes. The Irish State Collection (Office of Public Works) has bought three of my works.
Yes. I did an Interview with art reporter Birgit Rieger for the German newspaper Tagesspiegel in April 2023. https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/alle-reden-uber-post-vandalismus-wie-die-asthetik-der-strasse-kunstler-inspiriert-9499427.html
I did an interview with art historian and critic Larissa Kikol for Kunstforum International in March 2023. https://www.kunstforum.de/band/2023-287-post-vandalismus/
Yes. I’ve completed residencies in Prague, Berlin, and London and Dublin.
Email: stefanobardsley@gmail.com
Address: 266 Paisley Road West, Glasgow, Glasgow City, G511BJ, GB
Local Authority: Glasgow, Scotland.
