12th Vital Capacities residency

Event at: www.vitalcapacities.com 

The artists for August 2026’s residency are:

Sophie Hoyle is an artist and writer who relates personal experiences of being queer, non-binary, disabled and part of the SWANA (South-West Asian and North African) diaspora to wider forms of structural violence. From lived experience of psychiatric conditions and trauma (or PTSD), they began to explore the politics of healthcare inequalities and collective and intergenerational trauma. 

Mariette Moor’sinterdisciplinary practice holds drawing, clay and writing at its core, operating as modes of storytelling that tease at the uncanny peripheries of horror and their relationship to boundaries, absence, and control. I imagine ‘world fracturing’ as a methodology to mix the mundane, fantastical and paranoid into psychological scenes, questioning the nature of reality and sanity. Tenderness and violence coexist in speculative bodies and spaces which confront the complexities of intimacy.

Helen Stratford’s practice spans architecture, fine art, writing and research. Through performative workshops, site-specific interventions, video, speculative writing, and discursive platforms, they propose ways of challenging spatial prejudices produced at the intersections of social, cultural, economic and political relations. Her work has been exhibited at V&A, Oslo Architecture Triennale, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, Bloc Projects, Kettle’s Yard and Wysing Arts Centre. Led by her lived experience of chronic pain and personal health histories, she is currently researching crip time (en)counters with public space, ecology, architecture, and productivity. Helen is also Senior Lecturer at Sheffield Hallam University.

An online exhibition showcasing work developed during the residency will be presented on vitalcapacities.com, launching on 24 September 2026.

Residency launches on 1 August – find out what the artists are up to by following their progress at: vitalcapacities.com and on Instagram: @vitalcapacities

Vital Capacities is an accessible, purpose-built digital residency space that supports artists’ practice while engaging audiences with their work.

Vital Capacities has been created by videoclub in consultation with artists, digital inclusion specialist Sarah Pickthall and website designer Oli Pyle.

Vital Capacities 2026 residency is supported by Arts Council England.