Adapt Transform – Free Exhibition of Urban Designs at Modern Art Oxford and Headington Campus 2022

Modern Art Oxford

This summer we’ve experienced another unprecedented yet recurring heatwave and one of the driest seasons in record.  Wide areas in England are declared in drought and millions of people face hosepipe bans due to low water level in reservoirs and rivers.  This is the harsh reality we face.  However, it’s never too late to reflect on what we have done to the environment and to act on our promise to protect the Earth.

oxford modern art
Image from Modern Art Oxford

In Adapt Transform, we have a chance to look at urban planning and design in a creative way.  Adapt Transform is an interdisciplinary exhibition that explores the community experience of urban design and its impacts on city transformation over time.  It will see how cities can be designed differently, with communities and our planet in mind.  Hopefully it can bring some insights to more innovative and responsible town planning that will eventually create a more sustainable world and better life for us.

More about the exhibition

Adapt Transform takes place from 16th August to 18th September, 2022 with display across two sites: 

There is a wide variety of artworks showcased in the exhibition, from maps, data and documentation, to painting and sculpture, modelling and prototypes, and performance.  They are work from artists and creatives who responded to a country-wide call out early this year.  

Atkins Urban Nature Lab’s Lego model of Oxford is on display, allowing us to play together while thinking about new ways to protect Oxford | Image from Oxford Modern Art 

More information about the creatives: 

  • Alexander Stavrou, a thinking-through-making multimedia artist
  • Ash Goller, who has collaborated with Green Arts Oxfordshire Network to create a swap shop to help other artists be more environmentally friendly in their practice
  • Atkins Urban Nature Lab, a group of environmental scientists, engineers and consultants who works on nature-based solution projects to help combat change, population growth and urban expansion 
  • David Gasca, whose Oxford Map of Trees provides a classic map view of the current urban treescape in Oxford
  • Deborah Pill, an Oxford-based contemporary artist and arts practitioner
  • Green Arts Oxfordshire Network, which aims to unite Oxfordshire’s artists and cultural organisations in their work to tackle the climate and ecological emergency
  • Jan-Hendrik Höhnk, a graduate student in Sustainable Urban Development at the University of Oxford with a passion and interest for social interaction in public space
  • Jimi Cullen, a customer service worker using a camera to have fun and investigate the beauty in the natural and human worlds
  • Katrin Wilhelm, a stonemason turned heritage scientist and geographer, and Sterling Mackinnon, a cultural geographer and sound artist
  • Makespace, a social enterprise that transforms Oxfordshire’s empty and underused buildings into affordable, community-driven workspaces
  • Mark James, an ecologically minded multidisciplinary artist 
  • Muesli Collective, a collective of three artists, namely Louis Darcel, Hannah De Corte and João Freitas, who make “unruly paintings” with hypersensitive materials that react to and reflect the environment they inhabit
  • Nor Greenhalgh, an Oxford-based public artist and community worker
  • Thomas Nicolaou, an Oxford-based artist, graphic designer and tutor

Adapt Transform Late – Celebrating the OPENING 

While the exhibition has already kicked off on 16th August, there is an official celebration for the opening of Adapt Transform at Modern Art Oxford on 19th August, 2022, from 6pm to 10pm.  In addition to the exhibition throughout the evening, visitors can take part in the demonstrations and discussions led by one of the exhibitors Atkins Urban Nature Lab, and enjoy the performance by artist Alexander Stavrou and live music from Oxford-based Octavia Freud.

Highlights of Adapt Transform Late:

  • Demonstrations and discussions by Atkins Urban Nature Lab
  • Fragment Interface, performance by Alexander Stavrou, in response to the design of the gallery space by negotiating with a fragment of a discarded piano
  • Live music of Octavia Freud
  • Galleries remain open till 9.30pm
  • Refreshments available from the Café
  • Gallery shop is open all evening
  • FREE entry, no booking required

Don’t miss the opportunity to explore urban design and creativity as the exhibition and opening event is absolutely free and no booking is required.  Meanwhile, please note that Modern Art Oxford is close on Monday and its opening hour is 10am to 5pm, from Tuesday to Saturday, and 12pm to 5pm on Sunday.  The Glass Tank Gallery at the Headington campus of Oxford Brooke University is open seven days a week, from 9am to 5pm.

If you’d like to find out more about local events in Oxford, why not check out our other articles, or perhaps start by finding out about ‘Riverside festival’– A local festival you may not heard of!