Residency at Stryx Gallery / Digbeth Birmingham / September 2026

https://stryx.co.uk/Hot-Plate-Soup-Pt-VIII-LODESTONE-by-Alex-Billingham

The first of STRYX mid career SOUP artists for 2026 – LODESTONE, an open studio event for September Digbeth First Friday 2026. This marked the start of my residency period which culminated in Singularity a solo show.

LODESTONE pulled together the first years research and development for Wayfinder: a 5-year project. Exploring memory / Hagstones and the gravitational pull of black holes. This was part artist studio/ part film studio/ part work in progress – a glimpse into my working methods.

Studio residency image at STRYX by Marcin SZ

I’m used LODESTONE both as a point to bring together the existing research and as a means of exploring where the project is heading next. I began in November 2025 with development time at following BOARC considering where I wanted to move my practice next after a few major projects had come to completion. Walking amongst the ferns of the hillside and holding up in the great wooden domes of the observatory. Then came a week of development space in Summerhall arts – specifically the Victorian anatomy laboratory. feeling the connections to all the lives and deaths which had passed through the space. I developed the Live art side of the work. My work often begins in live art before moving off into various fields. Then came time in Hospitalfields in Arbroath – a truly magical place. I was there on the interdisciplinary residency working on the soundtrack / music elements of the project. Generally I’ll do the work then soundtrack it afterwards but this time I decided to prioritise the music and use it to inform the rest of the work. Building the soundtrack from a mixture of music made on location with location recordings of the world around me. electromagnetic impulses / contact mics / hydroponic microphones.

Development image from BOARC Liverpool 2025

With support on this years cohort of Syllabus I’m using the development time to refine and deeper understand the research with a public outcome in June 2027.