Alison Carlier is an artist who works with mostly audio, both in co-production and collaboration with others. Her work centres around how humans engage and understand through what is seen and what is heard. She is especially interested in speech, language and how sounds can be perceived as musical. Alison won the Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2014 with an audio drawing. She is currently collaborating with a neuroscientist for UCL as part of a knowledge exchange project.
 
http://www.alisoncarlier.com Instagram @alisoncarlier

The Meadows, cute name for a road, brutal demolition of the meadows.
 
No poisonous trees in Laburnham Road,
no watercourse at The Mallards,
The Woodpeckers have no trees,
no brambles left in Blackberry Close,
no Moor View for the houses behind the flats,
no salt marsh for The Godwits,
the Hollow Glade now full,
no horses on Paddock Road,
no needles at The Pines,
no fruit on Orchard Place,
no sports on Cricketers Close,
no whey down Curds Road,
no cygnets at Swans Nest,
no lovers on Buttercup Way,
no sheep on Drovers Road,
the Prospect Place is dire,
​
you get the idea
building building building
until there is nothing left
down the right of way.
 
Stuart Bowditch

groving places an emphasis on text this year and Stuart's powerful poem weaves through the project - today appearing in Hatter Street, Churchgate Street and Angel Lane. 

​Prospects is the first new publicly available poem I've written since 2018. The concept had been in my mind for a long time and I gathered the street names used in the piece over several years whilst on journeys around the UK. The theme for groving 2023 seemed to be a perfect fit for the idea so I wrote the poem with this in mind

I always seek out stickers when visiting new places, as stickers on lampposts and other street furniture are an indicator of social, cultural and counter-cultural activity in the area. This format therefore provided a perfect vehicle to display the poem in public spaces whilst accommodating the small parameters required by the commission.

Stuart Bowditch is an artist, musician and field recordist. His practice focuses on places and communities that exist on the fringes, both geographically and socially, with a particular interest in the sonic landscape, capturing overlooked and overheard noises and using sound as a documentative and creative medium. His sound recordings of people, their activities, experiences and environs have contributed to art installations, phone apps, archival records, radio broadcasts, podcasts, dance performances, public consultation events, musical compositions, a computer game, a eulogy and sound tracks to short films.
​www.stuartbowditch.co.uk  Email [email protected] Instagram @bowditchstuart Twitter @stuartbowditch

The theme for groving 2023 is Encroach. In common with many areas of the UK, Bury St Edmunds is experiencing a huge expansion in housing, including infill, new estates in the town and on the outskirts. Rapid development can feel overwhelming for residents, and puts pressure on infrastructure. This encroachment impacts physically but also on our sense of space and room to exercise, to breather. 

More concerning, our expansion of the built environment inexorably erodes the habitats and space available for wildlife in an unequal battle for resources. Even brownfield sites provide valuable habitats for wildlife, broken ground to enable run off, and welcome gaps in a relentless urban landscape. 

Whilst housing developments require planning consent, there is a subtle but persistent erosion and threat to our common land and rights of way. But encroachment isn't always negative - a positive example would be the speed at which plant life colonises empty land, which quickly becomes home to a complex ecosystem of insect, animal and bird life.

There are many forms of encroachment in contemporary life, when our personal space and privacy feel invaded - can be invaded. There is the constant media output, we can be subject to sensory overload.

We used to leave our private space for work, for shopping or entertainment but these have all now infiltrated out homes. There is no longer a separation between our private and public domains, and we are influenced, indeed controlled, by technology. 

The artists responding to this theme are Mianam Bashir, Stuart Bowditch, Jacquie Campbell, A & I Carlier, Alban Low & Natalie Low, Heidi McEvoy Swift, Julia Manheim and Urve Opik, Simon Tyrrell.

groving takes to the streets of Bury St Edmunds again this August. Each day from 29 August to 4 September a small work of art or multiple will be placed out on the street, in a garden or car park in the centre of the town. This fun, accessible exhibition enables people to search out the artworks, enjoy, post, move them - or take them home. 

Each morning the location of the artwork will be revealed here and on Instagram and Facebook barbara_at_grove.