In Uncertainty in the City (2008-10) commissioned by the Storey Gallery in Lancaster,  we moved from the heart of the home as examined in (a)fly (2006), to the urban peripheries – the wall cavities, the roof spaces, the broken mortar and gardens, to examine human responses to other hidden societies, living in our midst, considering them simultaneously in two ways – one, as unselfconscious communities of fauna going about their disparate business within and around our homes – and two, as an incongruous and contradictory human construct, commanding and combining in tension, a wide and disparate range of affect. The responses were wide-ranging and included fear, anxiety, irritation, disgust, wonder, a sense of privilege and more…

Uncertainty in the City was a research project predominantly based around Lancaster and the North of England. In this project we focused on margins of human tolerance, where a range of opinion or views provides a promising field of inquiry, as indicative of contradictory and certainly unresolved schisms in our social and socio-environmental fabric. Where such diversity of response to a phenomenon exists, it suggests there may be some susceptibility to reappraisal and change. Of course variance of opinion and perspectives are not by definition a problem, but where those opinions are embedded over a long time and lie unchallenged, we see merit in shuffling the pack and seeing new juxtapositions – inviting new readings and opportunities for understanding and behaviour.

Most of our research was conducted in 2009-10 under the banner of Radio Animal, a mobile radio unit and website we designed to gather and disseminate information about the subject (see radio animal here on left). The website continued to develop and function as a repository up to the opening of the exhibition (2010) – and continues as a public resource hosting a 360º virtual tour of the installation:

click here for virtual tour of Uncertainty in the City