Beyond the Scroll: Programme
- Apr 10
- 6 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Thursday 16th April from 10am-4pm FREE ENTRY @ ArtBomb & Doncaster Unitarians
ArtBomb is delighted to welcome you all to Beyond the Scroll, a day of conversation, live art interventions, film screenings and workshops exploring how socially engaged practice can reclaim focus and meaning in a digital age of distraction.
Taking place on Thursday 16th April (10am–4pm), we're bringing together artists, activists and curious minds to offer a wide range of perspectives on the role that technology plays within contemporary arts practice and our everyday lives, and how this is shifting our understanding of what socially-engaged art practice is, or what it could be.
With activities taking place throughout Doncaster Unitarian Church, ArtBomb's lab space and our courtyard—a hidden oasis in the heart of the city—you're invited to take the day at your own pace. Explore, debate and connect.
We expect the forum to end around 4pm, after which you are invited to stay for our evening social, featuring live music performances and poetry readings.
Here's a sneak peek into some of the wonderful people featuring in our programme!
Jack Clarke
HOST
@clarkeofsalford
Jack Clarke is a Producer, curator and cultural theorist from Kersal in Salford. Background across film exhibition making and socially engaged cultural practice. His work is rooted in Northern DIY traditions and focuses on working class history, community memory and political storytelling often developed within collaborative low budget and grassroots contexts.
He has worked with Factory International as a Young Curator, Bury Art Museum as Moving Image Curator, and Working Class Movement Library through the Big Flame Project. He co-curated Keep The Flame Burning with 16–25 year old working class volunteers and produced and co-curated Nothing About Us Without Us the national Big Local Legacy exhibition.
With bylines in Culture Matters, Savage Minds, Z Network & STAT Magazine, he writes against the grain of polite arts discourse pulling apart the language of institutions and academia with a mixture of humour frustration and refusal often fucking up the idea that legitimacy only comes through degrees funding or institutional approval.
GUEST TALK
@eelyn.lee.film
Eelyn is an award-winning artist and filmmaker based in Sheffield who has exhibited across UK including Barbican, Tate Modern, National Portrait Gallery and Whitechapel Gallery as well as internationally in Paris, Berlin, Bogotá and Toronto.
In 2021, Eelyn co-curated Parallel State, a speculative project responding to a provocation; “What Does a Northern Town Look Like in the Parallel State and what happens in it‘s public spaces?".
5 years later, Eelyn returns to ArtBomb to offer fresh provocations on what social art practice looks like in a place like Doncaster and more broadly, within today's digital culture.
SUBVERTISING DEMO
@spellingmistakescostlives
Darren Cullen is a satirical artist, illustrator and writer, born in Leeds to Irish immigrant parents and currently based in London. Cullen initially thought he wanted to go into advertising as a career, but became steadily horrified at the ethical implications of manipulating people's desires inherent to the industry.
In May 2025, Darren transformed ArtBomb's shopfront space into a satirical estate agency on the Gaza strip, a razor sharp, anti-war assault on consumer culture. For ArtBomb, this installation—and the positive conversations it prompted with local residents—felt like a real turning point in the type of work we can present on a northern high street.
For Beyond the Scroll, Darren Cullen (aka Spelling Mistakes Costs Lives) is hosting a ‘subvertising' demo. Using examples of his own ad hacks, Darren will guide you through simple ways to “hack" print adverts in real-world public spaces, and how disrupting consumer culture can begin by simply replacing ads with art.
Shannon Chambers
MEDITATION
@flowwithshan
Yoga & meditation teacher and founder of FLOW Studio in Doncaster, Shannon Chambers, invites you to “The Space Between Stimulus and Self".
This 20-minute introspective meditation invites you to notice your patterns of attention, disconnect from digital stimulation, and reconnect with your inner world and senses.
PERFORMANCE
@jb_ledger
@johnwrightretrobaruniverse
Coming out of Straight A's, a 3-month immersive exhibition (17 Jan–11 April 2026) at the Cooper Gallery, bringing together 25 years of his work, Barnsley born artist John Ledger joins his long-time collaborator John Wright to perform Non-stop Inertia (I'm too busy to meet you).
This performance-based text discussion illustrates the inability to stay with the trouble and the issue of burn out, followed by a short introduction to their collectives and how things have changed since their first performance of Non-Stop Inertia in 2015.
Other art & activities to explore at Beyond the Scroll:
EXHIBITION
In Translation (in ArtBomb's lab space)
EXHIBITION
Complexities of the Broken Mind & the Broken Vases (church balcony)
INSTALLATION
Little Anarchist Bookshop (in the courtyard)
1-2-1 INSTALLATION
The Museum of Dust (main church hall)
Mother Hookers CIC
CRAFT TABLE
Local crochet social group, Mother Hookers, will be bringing along some of the collective's crochet creations & will be offering scrap materials to be repurposed for your own projects!
TABLE TENNIS
Pick up a paddle and have a go at table tennis in the upper hall of the church.
Church of Ping Pong host sessions here weekly every Monday and Thursday.
Squiggle Gang
CUSTOMISED SPRAY PAINTING (Pay What You Feel)
Bring along a piece of clothing, tote bag or accessory to be custom spray-painted by local street art collective Squiggle Gang!
Live music by a roster of local talent will soundtrack the event from day to night:
Anarcho-confusion band, a blend of reggae, funk, ska, trance, hip hop and ancient vibes, straight out of Doncaster.
Olamide Sax (Olaniyan Olamide Phillips) is a professional vocalist and instrumentalist whose work spans gospel worship. African contemporary music, and cross-cultural repertoire performance.
Artist, producer & beekeeper will be bringing an array of mini synth instruments to take us into the Beyond the Scroll evening social.
WHAT TO EXPECT
As with all of ArtBomb's programming, we want to make this event as accessible and inclusive as possible. Please email jennie@artbomb.uk.com if there's a way we can make this event more accessible for you.
The event is entirely free, including a hot lunch and drinks served throughout the day.
Some activities are pay what you feel (please see above), and any donations made will be used to support ArtBomb in growing its creative community here in the heart of Doncaster.
We're expecting around 80 guests to be joining us for Beyond the Scroll.
There will be 2 dedicated quiet zones: one on the ground floor of the church and upstairs in the ArtBomb building, where there are comfortable couches and chairs. There are also benches and chairs in our outdoor courtyard area.
Team members supporting the running of the event will be wearing coloured lanyards or badges. They will be on hand to offer support throughout the day.
We will be serving a buffet-style vegetarian lunch in the rear room of the church. For anyone wanting to purchase their own food, there are several great spots within a 5 minute walk of ArtBomb:
5-7 Printing Office St, Doncaster DN1 1TJ
A cosy, colourful cafe with a great selection of sandwiches soups and other hot dishes.
48-50 Printing Office St, Doncaster DN1 1TR
A lunch spot with an extensive vegan menu
Sterling Foods
118 French Gate, Doncaster DN1 1QQ
A popular spot to grab a ready to eat lunch on the go – lots of options for a fiver, including jacket potatoes, wraps and hot sandwiches.
Market Place, Doncaster DN1 1NG
A modern market hall with a range of food vendors.
GETTING HERE
ArtBomb is located at 60 Hall Gate, Doncaster city-centre: a 10 minute walk from the train station.
For anyone travelling by bus, please be aware that Doncaster services are expected to be disrupted by industrial action on 14th, 17th, 22nd and 24th April, and so may have an impact on services running on 16th April.
If you have any questions about the event, please email admin@artbombuk.com
