How does Sheffield adhere to European standards of beauty? Via its buoyant art scene. With old industrial sites repurposed into galleries and theatres, the city has flourished into one of the UK’s leading cultural centres in recent years. ‘We’re interested in the stories that underpin some of the much larger narratives in Sheffield,’ say Resolve Collective, a London-based interdisciplinary design trio made up of Gameli Ladzekpo, Akil Scafe-Smith and Seth Scafe-Smith —‘stories of migration, ableism, race and gender.’ The collective’s latest venture sees them transforming the city’s S1 Artspace located in the sepia-toned almost-demolished Park Hill estate, into a ‘living archive.’ An installation in the gallery and a programme of public events titled ‘The Garage’ attempt to decode the ways in which citizens emotionally respond to, and move through, the buildings, environments and neighbourhoods in which they live.

Since 2016, Ladzekpo, Akil Scafe-Smith and Seth Scafe-Smith have been making work that straddles disciplines including architecture, art, design, engineering and technology. Their practice has a strong anthropological approach. Last year at Berlin’s Haus Der Kulturen Der Welt, the collective presented ‘Off Grid’, a mathematical installation of colourful crates that looked at human separation in cities. The modular work was also used as a storytelling arena for performances by local artists.

The act of gathering is a strong component of Resolve’s practice and motivations. In a section titled ‘Organising’ at S1 Artspace, the group have assembled a structure where talks and events that they host take place, fashioned in a way that encourages ‘close proximity to one another,’ perhaps as a tool to dismantle hierarchical structures. While the work doesn’t ignore visuality; colour, pattern and shape are all considerations here, the work attempts to go far beyond the corporeal.