ARTeFACT Trail Launch

Join Spalding Gentlemen Society for the launch of ARTeFACT, a new art trail in Spalding that combines history, art and augmented reality technology. Created by artists Neil Baker and Steven Hatton of Electric Egg in a collaboration between the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society Museum and Transported.

ARTeFACT, is a dynamic and interactive trail of brass plaques that adds interest to the high street, raises the profile of the museum, and connects people to the area’s history.

To make ARTeFACT accessible to everyone, Electric Egg ran a series of school and community workshops that informed and influenced the designs of the eight plaque designs and associated animations. The plaques have been etched into brass for people to take rubbings, and the unique animations can be viewed on a smartphone or tablet.

We’re excited to reveal the final designs of the ARTeFACT plaques at our launch event on July 15th, 2023 and for everyone to have a first look at the artwork’s interactive content.

As well as the new trail to explore, free activities for all ages are planned in the market place under the Transported gazebo, including guided art creation using the plaques’ textures by local artists.

The gazebo will be outside the South Holland Centre between 10am-2pm.

Whilst exploring the trail, make sure to visit Chain Bridge Forge, the historic blacksmith workshop which has been preserved and developed into a living museum, which will be open on Saturday 15th July from 10am to 4pm.

And of course, explore the incredible collection of artefacts at the Spalding Gentlemen’s Society Museum.

The Museum is open Tuesday to Saturday, 10-4pm every week.

Transported are managing the creative activities in this launch as one of a series of town centre events as part of the Spalding Reconnected: Riverwalk activities.

A sneak peek at some of the interactive content of one of the trail’s plaques

Spalding Reconnected: Historic Town & Riverside is an exciting new community Arts and Heritage project celebrating and promoting the unique history of Spalding’s town and riverside. It is made possible thanks to National Lottery Heritage Fund, South Holland District Council, Heritage Lincolnshire, Transported Arts, East Mercia Rivers Trust and Lincolnshire County Council, and will seek to create and promote several townscape and riverside improvements, together with future funding opportunities all based on Spalding’s heritage.
Transported is working with these partners to make sure creativity and heritage play a central part in the regeneration of the town, making it a nicer more interesting and fun place to be.

We hope to see lots of people to celebrate this innovative new addition to Spalding’s heritage and art scene!

To find out more about the museum, visit: https://www.sgsoc.org/

To read more about the ARTeFACT project, head to: https://www.transportedart.com/projects/current-projects/artefact/

And to discover more of Electric Egg’s work, find them on: https://electricegg.co.uk/

The project has been supported by Arts Council England, South Holland District Council, & Lincolnshire County Council.