Looking back on Leicester City Takeover 2022

Between 25-27th February 2022, UK New Artists took over the city of Leicester with exhibitions, performances, talks and residencies from 70 of the UK’s most exciting new artists. Come along with us as we reminisce on a fantastic weekend of art and culture!

We kicked off the weekend with a tour of the city, through the eyes of our City Ambassador, G Sian, who shared his tales of Leicester whilst helping the artists map the city.

Then, on to Attenborough Arts Centre for the official City Takeover launch. Happy faces; artists meeting and connecting for the first time; incredible artwork and inspiring speeches from Cllr Piara Singh Clair MBE, Jill Cowley, DMU Head of School, Humanities and Performing Arts, and Norman Cherry, Deputy Chair of UKNA. UKNA Takeover 22 was officially opened with the first performance, by Asthmatic Harp, whose enchanting alt-folk music played out to a full house. We were mesmerised by her stunning autoharp, guitar and gorgeous vocals.

Photos 1 & 2 by Saarah Patel, 3 - 9 by Tom Morley.

Friday

We welcomed lots of visitors to the UKNA exhibitions across the city, including Two Queens, StudionAme, Attenborough Arts Centre, DMU Gallery, Phoenix, Leicester Contemporary and LCB Depot. Meanwhile three groups of artists began their micro-residencies at Curve and Deacon Street Arts, investigating ‘sustainability’, ‘common interest’ and ‘placemaking’.

Photos by Tom Morley and Sophie Mak-Schram

Luckily, the sun shone down on us, as we enjoyed outdoor performances from Maja Zeco and Priya Rupra. Priya performed her durational piece, ‘History’ on the streets of Humberstone Gate; writing binary code on the pavement over six hours. Maja Zeco roamed the city in a fully soundproof suit; interacting with people and places as they went. It was so much fun to watch people's reactions; moving through surprise - confusion - amusement - joy; taking selfies, giving high fives, waving hello!

Whilst exploring the city, visitors could stumble upon Kirsty Kerr’s mini construction signs; their yellow faces peeking up from tree stumps, foliage, and cracks in the pavement, offering passers by messages of hope and optimism.

Photos by Divya Lathia, Tom Morley, Matt Cawrey and Jack McCombe.

Through the afternoon, we enjoyed talks, workshops and performances, including 'Hareflight' by UU Studios / Alastair White, which took over Leicester's Guildhall Museum. A stunning operatic performance combining movement, music and fashion by Issey Miyake from the UU Studios archive hung in mid-air across the historic venue. Also at the Guildhall was the intimate and powerful ‘Scrutiny’ from artist Pierce Starre.

In the evening, we descended on the Y Theatre for an amazing lineup of poetry and music, featuring Jay Johnson, Matt Smith, Carly Brown and Meriem Jouti.

Photos by Matt Cawrey

Saturday

On Saturday, the Takeover Fringe partner, No Jobs in the Arts set up in LCB Depot for the ‘Fringe of Failure’. Artists and local creatives were invited to pop in and collaborate, bumble, bodge, botch, and make a dog's dinner of new ideas.

Elsewhere, artists participated in talks, Q&A sessions and workshops, artists-in-residence continued their explorations, and the public attended tours of the UKNA exhibitions.

The performance programme kicked off with two fantastic double bills at Attenborough Arts Centre. First up was Nobuto, with their stunning piano and projection piece, followed by Meriem Jouti’s raw and powerful poetry set, Moroccan Drums. Then on to a new work in progress by Kieran Spiers, Mondo Cane, followed by Sean Wai Keung’s ‘Fortune’, exploring concepts including appropriation, immigration and racism, through the medium of fortune cookies.

At DMU’s PACE Building, Terpsichoring Dance Company presented 'Me, Myself and Misha', a heartfelt, humorous and charming autobiographical performance, sharing Ana's experience of pregnancy.

Meanwhile, artists-in-residence held public sharings at Curve and Deacon Street; presenting the work they had made collaboratively over the past few days.

Photos by Matt Cawrey, Katie Franklin and Sophie Mak-Schram

In the evening, we were back at the Y Theatre for poetry and music. Talya Stitcher’s moving spoken word set carried a softly political message about representations of body image and sexuality, and musicians margomool had the room on their feet dancing to their amazing soulful punk-jazz-rock.

Following their performance, margomool led the first ‘Free Your Ego’ cypher outside of London - an open space for people to jam and create together. The room was electric; a cacophony of percussion and harmonies; artists from all disciplines picking up instruments, improvising and collaborating, whilst others danced together.

Sunday

We had the most relaxing Sunday morning at Attenborough Arts Centre, watching a full set from musician Asthmatic Harp. Hannah is an alumni of UKNA, having performed previously at Nottingham 2019, where she met poet Roma Havers and turned one of their poems into a song, which she played for us.

Artists and the public enjoyed a final look around the exhibitions, including 'Symphony of the Libertine' and 'Flower Me' by Jemisha Maadhavji, exhibited in the windows of John Lewis Leicester - such a stunning display of Jemisha's incredible paintings!

Photos by Tom Morley

We said our goodbyes and 70 artists departed Leicester for hometowns all over the UK. UKNA would like to thank all of the artists, venues, partners and people who made this amazing takeover possible!

Photo by Tom Morley