From the exhibition curator Emma Dean

The BALTIC Ryder Commission has provided the opportunity for an emerging artist and architectural practice to come together and produce an artwork which is born entirely out of a process of collaboration. When Alice and Atomik started out on this journey, it was easy to imagine a scenario where Atomik would plan and engineer a build, Alice would produce a performance in response and each would have quite distinct voices in the final work. However, through their studio visits and workshops, Atomik and Alice have explored their shared interests and ideas very openly and collaborated in the truest sense of the word.

The different elements of the work have all developed simultaneously. Alice has been very much involved in the design and treatment of the architecture and Atomik in the performative aspects, even singing on the pre-recorded soundtrack and helping with the arrangement of the musical score.

The result is a multi-faceted site-specific installation comprising architecture, live performance, music and scripted wordplay which offers many points of entry for our visitors.

As the curator involved with the commission, my role has been essentially one of a facilitator working with Alice and Atomik to bring all the component parts of the project together and to encourage and support their ambition for the new work. The organisation of the project has involved almost every team at BALTIC, from our technical team in realising the complex build, through to our Human Resources and Learning & Engagement teams in recruiting the performers, and I want to thank my colleagues for making this possible.

The project is a huge achievement; we hope that visitors will enjoy the work as a multi-sensory and circular experience, but that they will also reflect upon the bigger questions that the work poses around how we position ourselves in the world and how we perform for each other in our daily lives.