- Ham House [2024-2025]
- Glyndebourne [2021-2022]
- William Morris Society
[2020-2021]
- Wilton’s Music Hall [2017]
- About us
[2020-2021]
Email
Instagram
©2025 The Storybox Collective.
P002 → Glyndebourne [2021-2022]
The Storybox Collective’s collaboration with the Sussex opera house Glyndebourne focused on its rich and varied archive. Working in partnership with Glyndebourne’s archivist Philip Boot, the Collective uncovered a diverse and compelling range of content to inform their research and approaches to making. The work was exhibited in two exhibitions in the Archive Gallery at Glyndebourne. Exhibition 1 focused on work-in-progress inspired by initial explorations of the archive. Exhibition 2 showcased creative work made in response to the discovered artefacts and to the site itself.
Exhibition 01:
No Ordinary Archive
No Ordinary Opera
01 February-29 April 2022
No Ordinary Archive, Collective Explorations: People, Performance and Place showcased work-in-progress from the The Storybox Collective in collaboration with Glyndebourne, the world-renowned East Sussex opera house. Inspired by initial explorations of the rich and varied material and hidden gems housed in Glyndebourne’s archive, the work in the exhibition was a starting point, inviting its audience to consider the journey from inspiration to creation, and to examine the role of the archive and artefact as sources of serendipitous creative opportunities.All image ©The Storybox Collective 2022
Exhibition 02:
Finding Ways In
10 October 2022-01 March 2023
Emerging from the research first shared in Exhibition 01: No Ordinary Archive, Collective Explorations: People, Performance and Place, the second exhibition, Finding Ways In brought together individual and collaborative work by members of The Storybox Collective [SBC], inspired by the hidden gems housed in Glyndebourne’s archive. The exhibition’s title is multi-layered: influenced by Collective member Sadie Cook’s initial exploration of finding ‘ways in’ to opera, it also reflects the process of examining the archive and its artefacts as sources of creative possibilities.
Traces of the past, gathered under the themes of people, performance and place, sparked a variety of creative responses. These included work inspired by the correspondence of set designer Beni Montresor, detailing his experiences at Glyndebourne in the 1960s; the project Potter to the Universe, prompted by a newspaper clipping about a Wedgwood Olivier Award from 1977; an investigation into the play of scale, angle and intensity in the crosshatch patterns found in David Hockney’s designs for The Rake’s Progress; and an exploration of the visceral connection to earth evoked by thumbprints on an undated planting plan for the Urn Garden by Fergus Garrett, which in turn inspired research into Glyndebourne’s Dye Garden and a poetic collaboration.
Among the works on display was a vinyl compilation, Finding Ways In: Collective Recordings created from field recordings made by members of The Storybox Collective between July 2021 and September 2022. Capturing moments from key stages of the project’s development with Glyndebourne, these recordings trace the arc of the collaboration and offer a glimpse into the nature of collective creative practice — and the rich potential of archives as catalysts for new work.
Marta Cubeddu
Figaro, Figaro: Il barbiere
2022
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Finding Ways In
Vinyl sleeve
Pressed in Nashville
Sleeve Notes
Liner notes and exhibition guide
210x210mm
From Leaf to Libretto
2022
Fabric gloves and embroidery
Drama!
2022
Vegetable based ink on recycled paper
14.8 x 21 cm
Edition of 3
From Leaf to Libretto
2022
Fabric gloves and embroidery
Matt Hams
Beni
2022
Digital (augmented reality) with letters from the archive
No Ordinary Work
2022
Volume of poetry.
Recycled uncoated paper printed with
vegetable inks.
Ways In
2022
Video
Pugsfield Park by Jane Pawsten & Benjamin Bitten
2022
Mixed media
Dimensions variable
Opera is Colourblind
2022
Animation and Timber
60 x 60 x 60 cm
Potter to the Universe: A Tea Set for Glyndebourne
2022
Research publication
Potter to the Universe: A Tea Set for Glyndebourne
2022
Ceramic
Dimension variable
Clare Conway
Three
2022
Giclée on cotton fibre museum board
40 x 72 cm
Edition 1/3
Ways In
2022
Video
Into the Spotlight
2022
C-Type print on Dibond
59.4 x 39.6 cm
Crosshatch—where weaving meets engraving
2022
Rush frail
3 panels; 30 x 30 cm