The Northern School of Art students and alumni are working with Hartlepool-based creative producers SIDEQUEST on their Turner Prize Horsebox project – a travelling artists’ studio aimed at bringing creativity to local communities – to celebrate the famous art prize’s debut in Middlesbrough, opening on Saturday 26th September 2026.
Organised by Tate, the Turner Prize, named after the nineteenth-century artist JMW Turner, has helped launch the careers of notable artists such as Damien Hirst and Steve McQueen. The Turner Prize’s four shortlisted artists for this year’s showcase are Marguerite Humeau, Simeon Barclay, Tanoa Sasraku and Kira Freije.
Its arrival in the Tees Valley for its full six-month tenure is an enormous moment for creatives in the area and a source of inspiration to the creative community, who will be hosting a range of events in collaboration with MIMA to welcome it. This includes SIDEQUEST, who will be mirroring the prize by creating a travelling artists’ studio featuring four local artists, Claire A. Baker, Hannah Campion, Stu Langley, and Errol Theunissen.
SIDEQUEST, based at the BIS in Hartlepool, are made up of Aaron Bowman, Adam Strickland and our BA (Hons) Acting for Stage & Screen alumnus Tyler Gracie, who works as an Assistant Producer.
“We were invited by MIMA to make a proposal for a project that would bring creativity into the community, after we delivered a successful run of another project during Middlesbrough Storytelling Festival,” explains founder Aaron Bowman.
Aaron describes the horse box studio they are developing with Hartlepool-based company Artistic Solutions as “a travelling artists’ studio that will feature a workshop designed by one of four brilliant Tees Valley artists. Each artist will work with our team to develop their workshop, bringing contemporary art into communities and helping people tell better stories.”
Aaron explains that they are working with a community of artists from the school to bring the project to life. He commented:
“As part of this process, we’ll be working with several graduates from The Northern School of Art. Molly Arnold has been designing the logo for it, as well as curating an exhibition for the MA degree show; Gabriel Gustard, who is finishing up his MA, is doing some textile work making the horsebox feel soft; graphics graduate Max Duggan has been working with us as a Creative Intern, doing some design work; and, of course, Tyler is our assistant producer. It takes a valley to raise an artist, and collaboration is one of the key strands of our practice – whether we’re working with partners on a big project, with communities doing place-based work, or in prison libraries, we encourage people to work together to multiply opportunities!”
In addition, SIDEQUEST will also be launching their independent side-project, SIDESHOW (which will be promoted as part of the Turner on the Tees programme). Aaron said SIDESHOW is “a brand-new live art night we’re creating in Hartlepool. Essentially, we’re taking over a skatepark and filling it with some of the most exciting, strange and brilliant artists we know. People can expect a collision of live art, music, drag, spoken word, burlesque, performance and opportunities to make things themselves. We want it to feel much more like a big night out, so there won’t necessarily be a clear divide between audience and artist, and there’ll be things happening throughout the space.” SIDESHOW will open on Friday 25 September at Tryin’ HQ in Hartlepool
“A big part of SIDEQUEST’s work is about creating the kinds of cultural experiences we want to see happening in Hartlepool. SIDESHOW is really about saying that ambitious, experimental contemporary work can happen here, made by musicians and spoken word artists and drag queens and bands and just lovely sound people, all artists from or living in Hartlepool.”
Reflecting on how impactful the prize will be for communities in Teesside, Aaron said its arrival is “Enormous. The Turner Prize exhibition is expected to attract more than 130,000 visitors and forms the centrepiece of a wider six-month Turner on Tees programme across Teesside that brings national attention, investment and some of the most significant contemporary art in the country to our doorstep.”
“The really important question is what remains afterwards, and it’s a collective opportunity to show that creativity can be a catalyst for deep and meaningful change within communities. For organisations like SIDEQUEST, one opportunity is to use this moment to strengthen the ecology that already exists here. There are brilliant artists, producers, organisations and communities making things across Teesside, including in Hartlepool. We want the Turner Prize to help amplify that, whilst also bringing creative joy to thousands!
“For Hartlepool particularly, we’d love it to contribute to artists feeling that they don’t have to leave the town to make ambitious work or build a career, but that the ingredients for brilliance are already here. We want to encourage more people to work together to make things here and ultimately tell better stories about who we are and who we want to be!”
The SIDEQUEST Horsebox has been commissioned by Borderlands and MIMA with support from Muckle LLP
Keep up to date with @sidequestwastaken on Instagram, facebook and LinkedIn you can also check out their website, here.