Introducing our Winter Residents 2025–2027

This is an opportunity for them to develop bold early-stage ideas through creative technology in response to the theme If These Walls Could Talk. We have four artists who will be in residence for 11 days either between Feb - Mar 2026 (track one), or Mar 2026 - Feb 2027 (track two). 

Martin O’Leary, Head of Studio says: 

“We're excited to support artistic work that reflects the spaces we inhabit, and the boundaries between our digital and physical homes. We want to explore how technology can help us tune into the stories our walls hold, to honour the layers of connection that make a space feel lived in. Most of all, we're thrilled to welcome four artists whose work asks how we can all participate and connect, treating technology not as an escape from the physical world, but as a way to become more present within it.” 

Meet the Artists 

Track One: Focused Residency - Feb - Mar 2026 

Alison Stott (she/her) 

Alison's practice explores the spaces between art and science, craft and technology, glass and light, material process and lived experience. During the residency, Alison will explore the development of an immersive light and sound installation that listens to a space and reveals its living rhythm: a shared heartbeat that emerges through presence, participation and resonance. 

Nick Murray (they/them) 

Nick is a producer, game-maker and artist making socially-led narrative work focusing on loss, collective memory and digital cultures. For the Winter Residency, Nick will explore the Tamagotchi as a cultural artifact - a digital pet that sits between physical and digital life - using it as a lens to reflect on death, memory and digital afterlives. The work will consider how remembrance is shaped by cloud storage, AI distortion and the persistent traces we leave online. 

Track Two: Flexible Residency Mar 2026 - Feb 2027 

A1 Vanguard (he/him) 

A1 Vanguard is a director, producer and multidimensional storyteller with a strong foundation in poetry, rhythm and sound. His work explores embodied storytelling and the emotional resonance of listening. For the residency, A1 Vanguard will develop Through the Bone, an interactive installation using bone-conducting headphones to transmit stories directly through the body, inviting audiences into an intimate, physical encounter with sound, memory and place. 

Christopher Harrisson (he/him) & Jenny Davies (she/her) 

Christopher Harrisson and Jenny Davies have worked together on theatre projects as director and video designer. As a theatre director and audio producer Jenny is committed to making surprising, accessible storytelling that reflects what it is to be human. Chris works mainly in animation and projection design, but also has a practice that spans writing, film and performance. For the residency they will explore how immersive technologies can distort perception, enabling audiences to uncover a narrative that slowly reveals an unsettling truth hidden within an ordinary space. 

About the Winter Residencies 

The Winter Residencies Programme sits across two residency tracks between 2025-2027. The selected artists will explore how our homes and shared spaces hold memory, presence and traces of past and future lives - and how technology might help us listen more closely to the environments we inhabit: 

• Track 1: Is our focused track offering two residencies with a development period between Feb - March 2026. 

• Track 2: Is our flexible track offering two residencies with a development period between March 2026 - Feb 2027. 

We’ll be sharing updates from the artists as their projects develop on our website and social media channels.  

Watershed’s Artist Residencies are made possible with support from Arts Council England. Our Artist Residencies are additionally supported by our partners in Pervasive Media Studio, UWE Bristol and University of Bristol. 

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