In Certain Places

In Certain Places is a public art research project based at the University of Central Lancashire. We create artworks that challenge how we understand and experience places and foster long-term change by connecting institutions and communities.

A team of volunteers in hi-viz pedal the The People's Canopy from the UCLan campus to the Harris Square in Preston
Photograph of a young girl, wearing a hard hat, hi-vis yellow jacket and gloves, creating a model of a house out of clay.
The Harris Flights installed at the front of the Harris. Many small groups of people are sitting on the steps.
The MET installed on University Square UCLan
A team of volunteers in hi-viz pedal the The People's Canopy from the UCLan campus to the Harris Square in Preston
Two adults and two toddlers sitting on a colourful rug, colouring a sheet of paper with pictures of people bresatfeeding on it.
'People' artwork by LOW PROFILE. The word people is painted in road marking paint on the forecourt of Preston Bus Station.
The buses carry out the choreographed movements as a crowd watches on from the bus station access ramp.
Photograph of a woman with long brown hair sitting in a large chair with a baby on her lap. The baby and woman are both dressed in white and looking at an iPad attached to the chair. The chair has a wooden frame and is decorated with drawings.
Photograph of a map of Preston made from layers of different coloured jelly.
A detail shot of Bonnie Craig's artwork 'All a line can be'
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Over the last 20 years, we have worked with artists from Preston and across the globe to question, disrupt and shape the places in our city. We practise an extensive definition of public art, which has encompassed locative media, typography, film, design, performance, publications and architecture, and continues to expand. Each activity is part of an ongoing conversation about the politics of place: what places mean, who has the power to (re)make them and how art can help us to connect with and care for the places in our lives. 

Public space and infrastructure are important themes within our work. Our current projects present new models of cultural infrastructure and advocate for public spaces that support practices of care. Remaining ‘part of Preston’s DNA’, we also work in West Cumbria and with partners across the UK. Locally specific, our work has international reach and has been shown at Musuem of Modern Art, New York, Bi-City Biennale of Urbanism/Architecture, Hong Kong and the Venice Biennial of Architecture.

Current Projects

In Certain Places

VB005A, Victoria Building
University of Central Lancashire
Preston, PR1 2HE
info@incertainplaces.org

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