'Feral Alchemies’ & 'The Stottie Exchange'
Lady Kitt, 2025
Co-commissioned by No More Nowt (UK), the estate of Gordon Matta Clark (USA), EDT (UK) and PlaceLab (UK)
'Feral Alchemies’
Multi-sensory, interactive sculptures by
Lady Kitt
Inspired by American artist Gordon Matta-Clark
Sculptures for touching, sitting on, adding to, smelling and wrapping around architecture
The sculptures are called ‘Feral Alchemies’ because of the DIY, punk, folk art approach Kitt feels that
Gordon Matta-Clark had to making art.
“Gordon’s work reminded me of the feral creativity of me, my siter and our mates in the village where we grew up. That kind of freewheeling improvised way of building dens and the making stuff. The alchemy, or magic, of realizing that we had the skills, energy and imagination to create what we needed.”
Lady Kitt, 2025
About the artwork and wider research:
“For a long time I felt like architecture was something that happened to me and (because I don’t know how to build structures out of “architectural “ materials) that was that. Learning more about Gordon’s work (and way of working) is making me feel different. Kind of active. Grappling with architecture can feel too big, too formal, too much physical labour, particularly I felt for me, as someone who is physically disabled.
Learning about Gordon and his work has been liberating- encouraging me to think about how I can intervene in architecture that already exists. Using my own peculiar and idiosyncratic skills, ideas and experiences to make architecture more what I need it to be - mostly more soft, physically and visually.
Laura Phipps (Assistant Curator, Whitney Museum of American Art) has described Gordon
Matta-Clark’s work as an
“...aggressive re-imagining of what development is”.
I’m dead interested in the role(s) of art in social/ civic development- although my approach is less “aggressive re-imagining” more gentle re-crafting. This all feels pretty urgent in the North East at the moment, where many communities suffer intensely due to inability of a place to the meet social, architectural and structural needs of it’s people. I think creativity is a useful tool for local communities to consider and share what is really needed from our place(s) and to learn the skills to make change happen ourselves.”
Lady Kitt, 2025
The ‘Peterlee & Stanley Stottie Exchange’
A nomadic, DIY cafe where local artists Sarah Calivera, Hazel Oakes and Lady Kitt served experimental sandwiches made with love. These cost no money, but instead are exchanged for drawing, writing or creative chats with, or from, each visitor.
Customers dropped by any time during opening hours to:
• be made a bespoke, edible, artistic stottie sandwich inspired (physically& conceptually) by Gordon Matta-Clark’s (GMC) work
• invited & supported to share their thoughts through talking, letter writing, drawing, or making small sculptures (from rubbish generated by the café)
Focussing on ideas relating to: Alchemy. Collaboration. Gentrification.
The Stottie Artists asked:
What is the spirit of our place(s)? What are the realities of our place(s)? What are the future(s) of our place(s)? What (non-monetary) support do we need to make our fantasy futures come true? Who might support these imaginings to become reality?
One of the key invitations (but not expectations) was to write a letter. Inspired by GMC’s archive of letters requesting support for his artworks, visitors where asked to consider who their own letter might be addressed to and what they will ask for?
Cafe philosophy and connection to GMC:
To celebrate sandwich crafting, letter writing and imagination making as lived, shared artworks.
Transforming the:
• everyday act of having a sandwich
• everyday place of a disused building into creative, emotional, philosophical, maybe even magical, experiences and places for nourishing, generous, unexpected connections.
Removing money as a currency to make space for more flexible, generative, people-centred forms of exchange.
Ways of working:
“Through this project I would like to collaborate with local folks to experiment with food, sculptural& social interventions.
The aim is to nurture & share ideas about what local communities really need from their place(s).
I was dead inspired by Jessamyn Fiore (Co-Director of the Estate of Gordon Matta-Clark) description of the endless letters for support Gordon wrote. To me, this epitomises the North East spirit of “shy bairns get nowt”*, but also made me reflect that many of the (especially young) people I work with here, might not have the confidence to reach out and ask for support in this way. I think this vast catalogue of letters would be inspiring and exciting tool for local communities. “
Lady Kitt, 2025
* “If you're too shy to ask you won’t get (it)” local Pitmatic (Durham colliery village dialect) phrase