SBC Scratch Residency:
Fragments of a Process
by Linder, Holly Blakey and Maxwell Sterling
with the Hayward Gallery
at Southbank Centre
In February 2025, we presented a bold new residency in collaboration with the Hayward Gallery and Southbank Centre, bringing together three trailblazing artists — Linder, Holly Blakey and Maxwell Sterling — for five days of collaborative experimentation.
The five-day residency was in connection with Linder’s major Hayward Gallery retrospective Danger Came Smiling and unfolded as part of the Southbank Centre Studio programme, which supports innovation from some of the country’s most exciting artists. The time together was an opportunity for these three artists to explore creative risk-taking away from the pressure of production and specific outcomes.
“Every day, waking up and thinking, what are we doing today? And thinking, I have no idea. In a world now so obsessed with production, being seen to produce and being successful, to just let go of all that was a rare privilege.” — Linder
Linder, Holly, and Maxwell were joined by musicians Kenichi Iwasa and Matt Davies, and dancers Sari Mizoe, Luigi Nardone, Folu Odimayo and Violet Savage who were fundamental to the residency process.
Throughout the week, the group’s approach was rooted in improvisation and play, and evolved through unstructured movement and music where gestures, sound and images emerged organically. Shaped by the influence of Linder’s visual practice, the four dancers explored touch and physical interaction through a more instinctual than choreographed process. The three musicians worked with the dancers to create a dialogue between sound and movement that resisted traditional hierarchies — at times the music dictated pace, while at others, dancers’ rhythms led the score which featured drums, double bass, cassette players and electronic samplers.
At the end of the residency, the artists opened their process to the public with a live sharing of progress in Southbank Centre’s Purcell Room. The audience was given a rare insight into improvised moments of intimacy, humour and abstraction that unfolded in real time. A Q&A afterwards also provided context into the ideas explored in the residency, and the spirit of embracing the unknown shared by all collaborators involved.
SBC Scratch Residency: Fragments of a Process was supported and presented by the Roberts Institute of Art, the Hayward Gallery and Southbank Centre.
Linder: Danger Came Smiling, Hayward Gallery, London, 11 February—5 May 2025.
