Linda Cassels I’ve Got the Power: The Performance is a symbolic gesture reminiscent of the UK's official Budget Day “red box," but reimagined in Linda’s own hands. Linda enters public space with a bold red briefcase bearing the MOF/CIIR designation. This act becomes a moment of action: an artist using their body and voice to challenge the silent architecture of power, claiming space in a city founded on economic inequality, colonial legacies, and bureaucratic exclusion.

ArtBomb'25 | 6pm-8pm | Sat 16 August ​ Hard | Art  will deliver the inaugural Hey! Festival , a spoken word event bringing local and world-renowned poets, including none other than Salena Godden , together to write for a better future & develop new work to be performed in Doncaster. Hey! Festivals are a writer-led Hard | Art initiative. Pop-up micro literary festivals which go where other festivals fear to tread. Collaborative, dynamic, agile and inventive — they put emphasis on listening to our audience. Hard | Art curate, in collaboration with local venues, half-day literary festivals which offer a line-up of both locally and nationally known writers, reading and talking about the issues of today (climate, democracy, social justice and cultural change). They are receptive as much as creative. Setting up stalls where people with different views can argue and debate anything from climate to the price of cheese. The Fête of Britain is on a mission to meet the people who really run Britain. The people who roll their sleeves up every day and do the hard graft. Every place Hard | Art stop they want to build connection and the possibility for future collaboration as the people collectively bring to life the new Britain we all so desperately want to see.

What is it like to be in a work, to be part of a creative process? In this following writing the artist/facilitator and co founder of Artbomb, Sacha Gray gives voice to the feelings and emotions that she felt when working on The Bare Project . An authentic voice that charts the process of the project, her role in it, and the impact she witnessed. The Kitchen Is Always the Heart is the name of the project created and delivered by The Bare Project , a theatre and interactive arts company as part of The People’s Palace Of Possibility . I knew a little of The Bare Project before I started hanging around these guys as they brought their kitchen and collection of stories and ideas of a utopian future to life in the space at ArtBomb. I had signed up to be a palace citizen in The People’s Palace of Possibility during lockdown as their project had moved online and via the post. I was intrigued then by their unique way of engaging and quirky design of paraphernalia that arrived through the letterbox. It was fun and exciting and I shared the experience with the group of kids that I worked with at the time.It was really interesting to see that the kids had never really been asked the question “what is a fairer, kinder future and how could we make this happen?” Or maybe it's not that they hadn't been asked that question but more likely they hadn't been given the space to really explore and discuss or been sincerely listened to and heard? So when I learned there was another phase of this project at the Artbomb shop I was really excited to meet the team in person. They arrived, I hung around a little and watched as they built the install into the shop window. The team welcomed me and I listened to them as they worked things out and supported each other if needed. I was part of their check-ins each day as we sat with a cuppa and had space to voice any concerns about our own tasks, or just how we were feeling that day and I soon began to realise and experience what they were all about. They have a wonderful micro culture of care and kindness in the way they work together as well as the people they come into contact with and it was palpable. It was more than just being nice and getting things done, I felt a sense of the utopian ideals they were advocating for, human care before productivity and capital and a strong sense of value on individual creative processes. This worked. Shit got done and done well. My job was to create signage for the open day where people were invited in for a meal, conversation and to really think about what food justice means to them. This space to just create within the setting of the buzz of creativity around me was lovely and slowed my mind down. People moved around and through the space and I listened and joined in convos. I witnessed worlds opened up on peoples faces as they spoke about their memories and experiences and I thought how this is how people understand what is important to them and what they want to take into the future and what they want/need to leave behind if we are to co create an essential and new way of living. That reconnection to self in those moments felt like lots of small but deep stirrings of hope and energy for a better, a radically better, future. Job done! But job is not done, because we need that energy to keep burning and the hope to keep building strength. The Bare Project will continue to build the rooms of The People’s Palace of Possibility in various places and spaces, but for the next 4 weeks we have the window at the ArtBomb to keep us inspired, stirred up, asking the right questions about our future and provoking imaginings particularly around the future of food. I look forward to seeing the next space created for The Peoples Palace Of Possibility . It is both gentle and powerful work that they bring, but it must be said that the relational way they go about their practice is just as impactful to the people they come into contact with.

ArtBomb'25 | 12pm-6pm | Sat 16 August @ Market Square ​ Dance with us in Market Square, where GSD, local champions of Donny’s underground music scene, present a powerful line-up: Rumbi Zimbabwean-born, Rumbi Tauro is a powerhouse with a unique blend of R&B flows. Rumbi's soulful melodies have graced stages across the UK, leaving an indelible mark at iconic venues and festivals. It's on stage where she shines, forging an intimate connection with her audiences. Priday Priday are an up-and-coming Indie rock, with blues rock lead guitar, band based in Doncaster. Acoustic sets, full band sets. Be sure to catch them playing at The Salutation Pub or The Leopard, in Doncaster. Omilea Omilea  has a soft, ambient voice and tells a story from within. Taking you along as her voice aligns the story. She’s a versatile artist who will make you reveal your own truths, even the ones you couldn’t discover. Alice Alice Ede  is a singer-songwriter from Sheffield. She began performing live in the summer of 2021, her first ever gig being on the Leadmill stage at tramlines that year. Over the past three years Alice has been performing at venues throughout the UK and released four singles that have been a hit with her audience. In June 2023, Alice’s first single that she released at just 15 years old was featured in the first episode of The Full Monty Series  on Disney+. Alice is continuing to grow her presence in the music scene with performances at venues such as The Leadmill, Yellow Arch, and Sidney and Matilda. She has also been awarded ‘Best Unsigned Female Solo Artist of The Year’ by Crags Radio. The young talent is not one to be missed. Jos Cozi Residing locally, going global — organically accumulating over 500,000 streams on just one single. COZI is a producer/artist but don’t let that title hold him too just that.  With an up-and-coming clothing range and podcast to most definitely look out for. Book on socials @JOSCOZI Darcy Rose Darcy Rose  is not just a voice — she’s a vision. At just 16 years old, the York-based artist blends striking, anime-inspired visuals with hauntingly honest songwriting and a live presence way beyond her years. An accomplished musician, contortionist and performer, Darcy’s raw talent and originality quickly drew the attention of a multi–UK chart-topping writing and production team who are currently working on her bold, genre-blurring debut singles and album. The youngest ever to perform at Sheffield’s Tramlines Festival aged 14, and boasting a bold, emotionally charged sound that blends raw authenticity with undeniable pop sensibility, Darcy Rose is firmly on track to become one of the standout break through acts of the next wave. Milla Milla  is an up-and-coming artist from Doncaster, blending R&B, funk, and pop into his own unique vibrant sound. Collaborating with the local collective GSD, he’s making a name for himself through live performances on BBC Introducing, having his latest track featured on Future Hits Radio, and more recently, performing at Tramlines 2025. His stage presence is fueled by a larger-than-life energy, drawing inspiration from icons like Prince, Michael Jackson, and James Brown. Ultimately, Milla aims to define artistry on his own terms, dedicating himself to perfecting his craft and becoming the best artist, he can be. DN0 DN0 are a duo from Doncaster focusing on getting their listeners moving. Combining singing and rapping in their music, bringing together Rap, RnB, Dance and Pop. DNO love to get the crowd on a two-step vibe and use their music to promote positive messages about relationships, life and personal growth. Having been played on BBC Radio Leeds & Sheffield multiple times, also performed at; Glastonbury, Tramlines, The Leadmill and some smaller local venues. They are now looking to build on their progress so far and take their love for music around the world.

GSD [ General Social Development] was founded by Doncaster artists, Lewis Russell and David Walusimbi . Over the past year, they have been engaging new artists, planning events and growing their creative catalogue. GSD work with a network of rappers, producers, singers, DJ’s, instrumentalists, models, photographers, and videographers. Their aim is to use the expertise of the collective to grow Doncaster’s rap scene and curate a new generation of Doncaster artists by engaging youth through their work with various educational institutions. GSD have collaborated with ArtBomb and organised three music events so far, including a rap night, an acoustic session and a DJ Party night. Rap night hosted by GSD featuring Yorkshire's finest: LUCKY FONTANE  / HAKXX  / JXG  / JORDON THE EGO  / LAURENTE  / PEZ-1  / BALBY LOCAL  / D.FAULT / CHOZEN1NE  / MUSTAFA3RD  / CARTDOR  / LOWRY / KUN D  / JUNIOR  / SONER  AND MORE GSD presents GSD Acoustic at the Hallcross:​ ​ DJ Ibzzzz / DARCY / PHILIPPA ZAWE / DJ Craze / KID blue / Ari Mor Official / Sile Sibanda / Harrison C / Nathaniel Short / DJ April-Ness / Meduullaa / Rumbi Tauro GSD's third event of the festival is an all night session with regional DJ's coming to Doncaster to play for one night! Book your tickets through our events page or pay on the door! ​ Jackhno / DJ CRAZE / DJ CHIEF / Matty B2B Jordan / ASHLEY HOLMES DN10 / DJ April-NESS and more! https://gsdhub.org/

Rob La Frenais Art and rowing don’t often come together but in this new aquatic performance specially commissioned by ArtBomb, artist, curator and rower Rob La Frenais will balance a lightweight single sculling boat (a very fast boat, rowed by Steve Redgrave in the Olympics) in the middle of the River Don and simultaneously take the audience on a journey through the history of rowing, class war, decolonisation, speed, gender, rowing and religion, and indigenous technology while trying very hard not to fall in. As a rower with 25 years experience he has been trying to bring together artists who also row in his Wild Rowing social media group and through this he met the renowned artist Ingrid Pollard (shortlisted for the Turner Prize) who is not only a rower but has also made a new video work ‘Rhythm In Hand’, with her rowing club, being shown around the UK in various galleries. Pollard recently spoke about her experiences as a black rower in a Guardian interview. A rare experience of a keynote lecture by Pollard, at the Unitarian Church on Thursday August 11, moderated by La Frenais, will precede his performance on the surface of the Rover Don on Sunday August 14 which can be seen and heard from the shore at Doncaster Rowing Club. Close To the Water was first performed on the River Aura to open the New Performance Turku Festival, where the audience viewed the performance in high winds from a moving floating bridge. It has then been done virtually during the pandemic at festivals in Linz, Austria and Bergen, Norway. ‘Close To The Water - Let The Boat Sing’ will be the first time it has been performed on a UK river. It will include elements of Northern rowing history, be part of a water-based event following the clean-up of the River Don (rowers are very conscious of water quality) organised by the Don Catchment Rivers Trust and be followed by a coracle/crayfish-catching action by Japanese artist Inari .

Rosie Gibbens ArtBomb'25 | 11am-4.30pm | Sat 16 & Sun 17 August Free • drop-in • suitable for all ages Create your own bizarre “labour-saving” robot using domestic appliances, fabric limbs and found objects! ‘Unimate’ is a drop-in workshop inviting visitors to design and build their own ‘labour-saving’ domestic devices inspired by an absurd interpretation of the future of robotics in the home. The more pointless the invention, the better! The humanoid ‘machines’ will be assembled using found household appliances alongside fabric body parts. Visitors will have the chance to pose with their inventions in a pop-up photo-booth, and their creations will be exhibited in the ArtBomb windows until mid-September! Argos Robots by Rosie Gibbens

Karolina Żyniewicz Most Delicious Poison: From Spices to Vices – The Story of Nature’s Toxins Noah Whiteman ArtBomb'25 | 11am-3pm | Sat 16 & Sun 17 August Free • limited spaces • age 16+ ​ Join us for a 2-day foraging and embroidery workshop exploring how Doncaster’s toxic plants can be used and misused by humans. To book your place or for more details, please email: info@artbombuk.com The inspiration for the Self Defense project is Noah Whiteman’s book Most Delicious Poison: The Story of Nature’s Toxins―From Spices to Vices , which shows how many organisms are capable of developing defensive strategies that we humans can use  as poisonous safeguards.  I believe that in the current atmosphere of global threat and war, it is worth initiating a discussion about defence practices through the use of knowledge about nature. This kind of knowledge is not exempt from ethical considerations—like any other knowledge, it requires responsibility and caution. As Paracelsus said, only the dose makes the poison .  In the Self Defense project, I’m interested in how plants considered poisonous use their toxins in their life cycles (in interspecies relationships), and how these toxins can be used—or misused—by humans. My research will focus on doses, thresholds, and limitations of using certain plant-derived  substances, beyond which they become dangerous—not just one of the components of  a plant, but a potential tool that can harm or take away health or life.

Miranda Whall When Peat Speaks: A Boggy Gassy Bubbly Ensemble (Part Two) Composer and singer-songwriter Isa Suarez, a custom-built robot – the ‘Talkie Box’, a turf of peat and visual artist Miranda Whall will form an ensemble. The Talkie Box will sonify remote data from a soil sensor network installed on a degraded ‘Cinderella’ peatland in the Cambrian Mountains, West Wales, as well as from a probe embedded in a turf of peat cut from the site. It will also sonify real-time carbon dioxide and methane readings taken from within a 3.5metre white inflatable bubble. Inside the bubble, Suarez will improvise in response to the numerical data readings on the fluctuations of the peat's temperature and moisture levels, the gas readings, the degraded peatland landscape, and the peat ecosystem. Outside the bubble, Whall will transcribe the live sonified data onto its exterior surface using a Rotring isograph pen. Whall will respond in real time to the shifting sonic outputs of the Talkie Box and to Suarez’s vocal and instrumental improvisations, rendering the dynamic interplay of ecological data and human expression as a kind of visual score on the bubble’s surface. As the drawing gradually drifts across the bubble’s midline, the acoustics and the voice of the bog will converge. This Performance will invite audiences to witness a multisensory, posthuman event where peat, air, time, and breath will form the elemental score: peat will speak through centuries of carbon, decay, and memory; air will move invisibly within the bubble; time will be drawn in ink across the bubble’s surface; and breath will be shared, held, and exchanged. Funded by @co2rehub – the UK’s national Green House Gas Removal Research Hub, led by the University of Oxford. Previous ArtBomb Project: When Peat Speaks: A Boggy Gassy Chorus (Part One) Inside a large white inflatable cloud, visual artist Miranda Whall, avant-garde violinist and composer Benedict Taylor , and a turve of talking peat form an invisible ensemble. As sonified sensor data from the peat fills the cloud, alongside oxygen, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and other gases, Whall writes the datapoints onto the inner surface of the cloud. The violinist improvises in response, while a custom-built robot — the ‘Talkie Box’, transforms the data into a composite, disembodied voice. Audiences will see the data drawing slowly emerge as it spreads across the cloud’s interior, and they will hear the violin and the voice of the bog converge. The cloud will inflate and deflate as the performers enter and exit - becoming a breathing, living entity. Grounded in climate science and deep listening, A Boggy Gassy Chorus  invites audiences into a multisensory, posthuman performance. Peat, weather, time, and breath form the elemental score: peat speaks through centuries of carbon, decay, and memory; weather drifts through the cloud - visible and invisible, a shifting pressure system inside and out; time is drawn across the cloud’s skin in ink; and breath is shared, held, exchanged, an ensemble of matter, memory, and air.

Yu-Chen Wang Full Circle Forum, 26th March 2022 at Danum Gallery, Library and Museum, Doncaster Yu-Chen Wang is a Taiwanese-British artist who lives and works in London. Her work asks fundamental questions about human identity at a key point in history, where eco-systems and techno-systems have become inextricably intertwined. At the same time, her Taiwanese origins, combined with a London-based career, have created a vision that is personal and autobiographical. She has exhibited internationally, including at Science Gallery London, Manchester Art Gallery, FACT (Liverpool), CCCB (Barcelona) and Taipei Fine Arts Museum, and recently received the Honorary Mention Collide International Award, CERN (Geneva). ​ Creating an immersive cinematic video installation, Yu-Chen Wang took railwayana as a starting point for exploring Doncaster’s relationship to coal. With the support of local historians, geologists and environmentalists, this collaborative inquiry into regeneration and rewilding looks at the landscape surrounding South Yorkshire in the context of two major crises we are facing: inequality and environment. This poetic work dwells on our relationship to place, peat bogs, water, coal are dominant features within the local landscape formed through the layering of time and compression of matter. Pitheads, slag heaps, mining subsidence and flooding, the edgelands are still full of post-industrial scars and traces. All of which are revealed through evocative moving images and a soundscape, which portray and reflect on these problems within a global condition to re-imagine new routes into the future. The artist’s research focuses on how technologies enable movement of people, goods and information, as well as exploitation of natural resources and labour; how the land and ecologies, even our planet, have been altered and transformed through these activities. In this anthropogenic environment, a new version of nature is emerging—wildlife and modernity clash, human and non-human worlds entangle—a coevolution of human communities and their landscapes. Full Circle , although composed of images and places captured locally, asks us how Doncaster sits within a broader international landscape as we did once before.                  Yu-Chen Wang says: “My work is largely informed by the history of places, collective memories, individuals’ stories, and the relationships I have established with these places and people. Various methods, including undertaking artist in residencies, conducting field research, developing collaborations and site-responsive projects across the UK and internationally have served as important processes for connecting places and people, whilst exploring and reconfiguring my own evolving cultural identity.” ​Speakers included: Yu-Chen Wang, Mike Stubbs, Liz McIvor, Louise Hill, Simon Pickles, Michael Oliver and Damien Allen. Sound design: Kristian Craig Robinson aka Capitol K Cinematography: James Lockey, Tyrone Braithwaite Technical installation: Andrew Quinn Equipment: ArtAV ​Research support: Dave Rogerson, Chris Barron and Simon Ward of Doncaster Grammar School Rail Collection; Bob Gwynne and Thomas Spain of National Railway Museum, York; Warren Draper of Bentley Urban Farm/Doncopolitan; Sasha Gray; Simon Pickles of North & East Yorkshire Ecological Data Centre; Michael Oliver of The Lindholme Old Moor Management Group; Paulette Benjamin of Gomde UK Buddhist Centre; Nicola Fox of Doncaster Museum. Curated by Mike Stubbs, specially commissioned by Doncaster Creates for DGLAM. With financial support from Doncaster Culture and Leisure Trust (DCLT).