For their tenth anniversary, Site Gallery’s youth collective Society of Explorers have designed Wishful Thinking, an exhibition exploring how galleries can be a space for reflection, immersion and rest.
The group have collaborated with artists Lucie Kordacova and Gregory Herbert over a series of workshops to create new artworks that take inspiration from nature and provide visitors with a space for ‘Soft Fascination’ to reflect and daydream. This constructed environment will also frame a programme of concerts and intergenerational workshops, as well as showcase events from different community groups in Sheffield.
The Society of Explorers are: Amelie, Cecilia, Diyana, Edie, Isabelle, Isobel, Jay, Kolbie, Liesl, Lila, Nate, Otto, Ruby, Sage, Sofiia, Tilly and Zak.
Artists
Site Gallery’s youth collective Society of Explorers have been meeting weekly at the gallery for the past decade. During this time they have been a vital voice in shaping how Site works with young people.
The group of 14-19 year olds collaborate with artists and the Site Gallery team to get involved in the artistic programme, develop projects, events and ideas.
Lucie Kordacova
Lucie Kordacova is a Czech artist and costume maker based in Sheffield UK. Through a largely collaborative practice her work takes the form of site-specific installations, sculptures, moving image and performance. She explores methods of collaboration, alternative education practices and issues that are pertinent to the communities she works within. With a background in textile and costume design, she collaborates with artists and choreographers on costumes for performance and likes to explore traditional textile methods such as weaving, knitting, sewing, embroidery, textile dye; as well as other traditional crafts such as puppetry or toy making.
Lucie’s collaborations include projects in galleries and institutions including South London Gallery, Rowing in London, Stanley Picker Gallery in London, V&A, MMOMA in Moscow, Index in Stockholm, TRAFO Gallery in Prague, A4 Space For Contemporary Culture in Bratislava and Deptford Cinema in London. During 2017-2021 Lucie was a member of resina, a curatorial and artistic collective based across Italy, Sweden and UK organising a month-long international residency in Italy for emerging artists and thinkers.
Gregory Herbert
Gregory Herbert is a British artist based in Liverpool. Working across film and installation, Herbert is broadly interested in collaboration, co-existence and exploring the vast entanglement of interactions that more than human beings have within their environments. Herbert also has a collaborative practice with Niamh Riordan as part of At The Library project Chopping club, Chopping club explores research around reciprocity and sustainability in systems of food production, local food producer and sovereignty networks, and the ways in which food shapes our landscapes and communities.
Gregory Herbert (B.1990) is a former Director of The Royal Standard and completed his MA Fine Art at Manchester Metropolitan University. Herbert’s recent commissions include; Bluecoat, Contours of the earth (2022) Rule of Threes, Winnowing Phase (2022) Sheffield DocFest, Exchange programme, Making-With (2021) and FACT, Together, We Are Symbiotic (2020). Recent exhibitions include Climate. Emergency. Hope at Turnpike Gallery, Leigh (2023); Archives at Play at Castlefield Gallery, Manchester (2022); Earth Eaters at Cole Projects, Hoxton 253 Project Space, London (2020); The Cucumber Fell in the Sand at Humber Street Gallery, Hull (2019); MA Degree show, HOME, Manchester (2019).
