Incidental Unit

Panel Discussion/ Exercises in knowing, Incidentally Saturday 9th May 2026, 2pm @homemcr Join artist Nicola Ellis for a presentation on her main gallery solo exhibition Exercises in Knowing, a work that explores our relationship with industry, materials, and labour, highlighting the role of sensory and tacit knowledge. Afterwards she is joined by fellow members of Incidental Unit, the current iteration of the Artist Placement Group, which was conceived by Barbara Steveni in 1966 (co-founded with Barry Flanagan, David Hall, John Latham, Anna Ridley and Jeffrey Shaw in London) which sought to reposition the artist in society and industry. Part of 10 events for 10 years of IU 🌱

📢 10 events for 10 years of IU! As part of celebrating 10 years of IU, we are marking the occasion with 10 events for 10 years - a year-long programme led by IU practitioners that includes panel discussions, performance lectures, gatherings and field trips. Together, these events revisit the legacies of the Artist Placement Group (APG) and Organisation + Imagination (O+I), asking what their relevance and resonance are today.

✨ 10 YEARS ✨ It was ten years ago today that Barbara Steveni convened enthusiasts of the Artist Placement Group at the Royal College of Art. This led to her co-founding the Incidental Unit as the third iteration of the APG. After losing Barbara in 2020, Incidental Unit has become part of her legacy project. Like many of you, we honour her wisdom and her work by holding the line in new generations of incidental practice. We have an exciting 10th year coming up, so get in touch to register your interest and find out more. Our monthly meetings are open to all, third Tuesday of the month so yell if you’d like to join. 🍰🍰🍰 Photo credit: Neal White (at the RCA on 18 March 2016)

Barbara Steveni, I Find Myself is now on @voidartcentre “What makes this exhibition particularly relevant today is the generosity of Steveni’s practice. She privileged discussion, and in particular conversation, as a platform to produce work. It is a practice probably best exemplified by how in later years she would welcome new relationships, through conversation over borscht at her home in Peckham, south London. The sweeping multidisciplinary discussions that took place there encompassed anything from the personal to the geopolitical, while sharing a soup that was very much a part of her past and her familial history. The proposal that an art form can exist in the world, outside of art contexts, with the artist’s role and practice framed around discursivity is an important precursor of socially engaged art practice today.“ As part of the exhibition, @incidental_unit contributed a film of 1.5 hours that plays 9 years of meeting minutes. This excerpt of text above truly resonates with how we continue the legacy of APG and O+I whilst discussing new strategies for incidental practices. Contact us to join our monthly meetings or to keep in touch with our activities. The exhibition continues until 4 April 2026.

At the end of last year @incidental_unit enjoyed a visit to Scott Bader at their polymer production facility in Wollaston. This followed on from IU’s event at Modern Art Oxford ‘We Appreciate It’s Been Some Time Since Our Last Letter’ where representatives from Scott Bader joined us in conversation of unfinished business round ‘The Sculpture’ revisiting Barbara Steveni’s fifty year old correspondence with the company during a group reading session. In November we followed in Barbara Steveni’s footsteps in the Boardroom at Scott Bader before donning PPE to tour the factory where we thought through unlearning, chemical bonding and extreme unknowing. With thanks to everyone at Scott Bader for their openness and willingness to exchange ideas. Incidental Unit are thinking through our new life in industry. @marshabradfield @_nicola_ellis_ @harriet_latham @amanda.loomes @windsor_esther @pollewright #barbarasteveni #apg #artinindustry #scottbader

📢 Join How Did We Get Here? @incidental_unit zine making workshop @serpentineuk The CICC School 👀💭 Led by Marsha Bradfield and Esther Windsor, we will visualise the intended and incidental impact of developments in the liberal legal system, and how these have resulted in intergenerational injustice against natures and people around the world. Using collage we’ll create juxtapositions to reveal complexities and contradictions that are often difficult to grasp. Participants will sift images, make, reflect & discuss. Tea and cake will be served. No prior experience with zine making is required to participate! 📆 Wednesday 23 April 2025, 2-5pm 📍 Ambika P3, 35 Marylebone Road, London, NW1 5LS 🎟️ Book your free ticket via link in bio The CICC School Programme is a series of talks, workshops, assemblies, screenings, guided walks, and performances designed to activate the Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes: The British East India Company on Trial installation at Ambika P3 and across London and provide additional context for and examining the threads of research that connect intergenerational climate crimes to our present. CICC school is free and runs 8-24 April 2025 at Ambika P3. Commissioned and produced by Serpentine Ecologies. In partnership with Framer Framed, Amsterdam (long-term partner), Law Development & Conflict Research Group, Ecological Futurisms, CREAM, Ambika P3, University of Westminster, Creative Scotland, Irish Museum of Modern Art (IMMA) and Create Ireland. With special thanks to Mondriaan Fund and Jessica Sweidan. @marshabradfield @windsor_esther @uow_cream Image 1: Radha D'Souza and Jonas Staal, Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes: Extinction Wars (2022), Gwangju Art Museum
Image 2: Esther Windsor

Thank you to all who joined, contributed and shared during our Incidental Unit event last Friday @modernartoxford We read aloud Barbara Steveni’s archival letters to Scott Bader from the 1970s, with new colleagues of the company joining us at the sculpture to muse on what industry is now and what might a placement look like today? We the ‘sifted’ the exhibition, sifting a term used by Barbara to mediate the happenings of the day, with members of IU sharing practice and thoughts to an artwork within the exhibition. We will now process, collate and edit together our recordings and documentation of the day. Do join us for our next Incidental Meeting, Tuesday 15th April 2025, 7.30 - 9.30pm, online. Dm for the link. This event was co-curated by current IU members: @cheleallen7 @marshabradfield @fredrix.vermin @natashamacvoy @amanda.loomes @mhairi_vari @pollewright @schilverss @_nicola_ellis_ @lhtrevail @harriet_latham Esther Windsor and Tatiana Orloff

Incidental Unit Meeting Minutes (2016 - ongoing) features 9 years of our meeting minutes scrolling over a duration of 1.5 hours. With special thanks to all who contributed to documenting the meetings and to @s_am_k_ for supporting the production of the film. This is installed within ‘I Find Myself’ Barbara Steveni’s retrospective @modernartoxford curated by Gareth Bell-Jones and Jo Melvin. Exhibition continues until 8 June 2025. Photos: Rob Harris

📢 EVENT We Appreciate It’s Been Some Time Since Our Last Letter Modern Art Oxford, Friday 21 March 2025, 12 - 5pm Join us this Friday for our event at The Sculpture within Barbara Steveni’s retrospective ‘I Find Myself’ @modernartoxford We invite you to join us in the exhibition from 12 midday, with conversation at The Sculpture starting at 1pm. The event will include reading original letters between Barbara and industry and an incidental tour of works within the exhibition relating to our ongoing shared practice of continuing the legacy of the APG. No booking required. This event has been co-curated by current IU members: @cheleallen7 @marshabradfield @fredrix.vermin @natashamacvoy @amanda.loomes @mhairi_vari @pollewright @schilverss @_nicola_ellis_ @lhtrevail @harriet_latham Esther Windsor and Tatiana Orloff

Join us for our event @modernartoxford part of Barbara Steveni: I Find Myself 👀🪑 The Sculpture x Incidental Unit: We Appreciate It’s Been Some Time Since Our Last Letter Incidental Unit will host a series of conversations inspired by the recent reactivation of Barbara Steveni’s correspondence with industry. Join us to explore themes of art and economics, work as context, archival excavation, and unfinished business. Founded in 2016 by Barbara Steveni as the third iteration of the Artist Placement Group, Incidental Unit continues her legacy by connecting and celebrating artists working in extra-artistic contexts, from industry and government to healthcare. Since Steveni’s passing in 2020, the network has embraced her preoccupation of ‘not knowing’ and John Latham’s concept of ‘the incidental’ to deepen conversations around creative agency. The Upper 2 Gallery Friday 21 March 2025 12 – 5pm No booking necessary This is the third in a series of live conversations activating The Sculpture (1971), a key work from the Artist Placement Group, as part of Barbara Steveni: I Find Myself. These discussions are programmed in collaboration with Policy Lab, Incidental Unit and the London Residency Network.

MEETING Our next Incidental Unit meeting, with one agenda item - unfinished business - will be held online, Monday 22 January 2024, 7.30 - 9.30pm. To sign-up and join the mailing list, email [email protected] or message us on here. Image: Incidental Assembly, South London Gallery, 2019

MEETING Our next Incidental Unit meeting, with one agenda item - unfinished business - will be held online, Monday 20th November 2023, 7.30 - 9.30pm. To sign-up and join the mailing list, email [email protected] or message us on here. Images: (1) Incidental Assembly, 2018 (2) Incidental Futures at Spike Island, 2018