George Harding
George Harding relocated to Margate to join Open School East, where he pursued his interest in folk music and roleplaying games; looking specifically at performative networks found within each and how memory is utilised or adapted through fictive adjuncts and re-fabrication.
Throughout the year George worked on a number of projects, both woven into (Subterranean Worlds, Tool-making for a Precarious Future, Spelunking) and outside of the OSE programme (Synthetic Ecology). For Subterranean Worlds, a 2-day event supported by Margate Festival, George constructed a temporary archive for research gifted by the associates group – presenting a means to engage with contextual material that foregrounded activities throughout the event.
For ‘The Well’, the year’s final group show, George delved into various archives (of his own, his families and others) to relocate a lost history of Douglas Harding; a distant relative and semi-pivotal figure in the initial discovery and subsequent revival of English folk music. Through this project, George introduced new methods of working into his practice including performance and fiction writing.
Moving forward George will be setting up a new project space based in Margate alongside fellow alumni Chloe Ashley, Kris Lock, Lou Lou Sainsbury and Emily Whitebread.