The Shape of Memory
- 12 hours ago
- 2 min read
New objects created from the stories held within historic places
The Shape of Memory explores how heritage places can support new forms of creativity, collaboration and skilled making.
Developed by Sustainable Conservation Trust founder Deniz Beck through the year-long research project Stories You Can Hold, the installation takes Fort Gilkicker in Gosport as its starting point. It asks a deceptively simple question: what can a historic place give us to hold, without becoming a souvenir?
The project brings together conservation knowledge, artistic research, digital recording and specialist fabrication. Found fragments and material traces from the fort were studied alongside its geometry, surfaces, shadows and accumulated signs of change.
LiDAR scans, photography, drawing, printmaking, clay studies and material experiments were used to explore how these characteristics might be translated rather than copied. The exhibition allows visitors to follow this journey through scans, sketches, fragments, textile studies, surface tests and prototype components.
Deniz worked collaboratively with fine artist Sally Tyrie, site-responsive artist Pippa Charlesworth and Craig Palmer of SPIN360°, a specialist in precision metal spinning and bespoke lighting.
At the centre of the installation is Gilkicker: Light No. 01, the first site-derived object in The Shape of Memory series. Its form and surfaces carry traces of Fort Gilkicker, while remaining a contemporary object in its own right.
For Sustainable Conservation Trust, the project extends our work activating underused heritage through creative partnerships, exhibitions, workshops and skills development. It demonstrates that the value of a historic place is not confined to its physical preservation. Through sensitive interpretation and collaboration, its stories and materials can also support artists, makers, learning and new forms of cultural enterprise.
The project proposes a model that could be developed with other heritage places: bringing together a site, artists, skilled makers and cultural venues to create meaningful, limited-edition objects rooted in the character and memory of each place.
The Shape of Memory will be presented at Material Matters London, 15–17 September 2026 at UNLOCKED Shoreditch, as part of Shoreditch Design Week and London Design Festival. Register Now
The project has been developed with support from Arts Council England through a Developing Your Creative Practice award.
Project lead and creative direction: Deniz Beck
Fine artist and light design: Sally Tyrie
Specialist fabrication and development: Craig Palmer, SPIN360°
Site-responsive textile design: Pippa Charlesworth
Metalsmith Craig Palmer of SPIN360° working on the etched brass components for The Shape of Memory u
