Name: Heart of Glass
Price range: $

2020 Vision was a six month residency with artist Sophie Mahon working with young people from Parr, Fingerpost and FourAcre in St Helens. Through a series of workshops Sophie worked with groups of young people from these areas to explore their visions for the future, as well as creating a number of works based on their present day experiences.

They focused first on their personal histories and present day lives, sharing their own interests and ideas. Exploring these ideas through storytelling, sculpture, digital programming, sound and performance. Over the six months participants progressed together to explore hopes and fears for their future world and create a series of imagined visions to share with the people of St Helens. The best and worst possible narratives were presented through a series of artworks and research.

Two free runners are in motion jumping over a spiked fence.

A young person's wrist has foil wrapped around it with wires attached. Another person in holding a control panel with buttons and wires attached.

2020 Vision was shared publicly in April and May 2017 with a live freerunning performance and public exhibition. The performance at Derbyshire Hill Family Center was led by a group of free runners and gymnasts from Parr who had been working with Sophie and alongside professional coaches.

Following the performance, artworks and research from the project were exhibited in a reimagined shop space in St Mary's Shopping Center, St Helens Town Centre. The exhibition saw an interactive sound map and interactve video work displayed alongside sculpture, painting, stories and photographs created over the course of the project.

A face made out of wire hangs against a white background.

A shop window inside a shopping centre. On the window are two maps. The windows and doors are otherwise blacked out.

Two pieces of metal with green, blue and white patterns on them.

Sophie developed workshops with St Helens Youth Service, Wild Card Amateur Boxing Club, St Cuthbert’s Catholic High School, St Augustine’s of Canterbury Catholic High School, The Sutton Academy, Free Runners Derbyshire Hill Family Centre, Parr Library, Chester Lane Library, Holy Trinity Church and 818 group

This project was a partnership between Heart of Glass and Helena Homes Make It Happen project, and supported through the Collaborative Arts Partnership programme (CAPP).