UP Projects are working with award-winning artist Matthew Rosier to create a highly ambitious participatory artwork as the creative centrepiece of Barnet’s Light + Flight programme.
Using large-scale projection, newly recorded oral histories woven with nature recordings within an original music score, and community co-creation, Ascendance will explore Barnet’s role as a place of arrival and a home for both humans and the more-than-human.
The final installation will create a visual spectacle that is accessible and grounded in the lived experiences of Barnet’s communities.
Rosier is known for creating large-scale public artworks developed through close collaboration with the communities and places they inhabit, working across film, sound, projection, and performance.
This new artistic commission, Ascendance, will bring this approach to Barnet, translating lived experiences of movement, migration, and belonging into a powerful public art installation.
Ascendance will be unveiled in November 2026, during a free multi-day arts and culture festival forming the celebratory finale of the London Borough of Barnet's Light + Flight programme.
Open Call
Artist Matthew Rosier UP Projects are looking for ten participants to share the story of how they came to live in Barnet.
These stories will become part of Ascendance, a new public artwork in Barnet, and the headline commission of the borough’s year-long cultural programme, Light and Flight.
This is a paid opportunity, with a fee of £125 to record your story. We will also support your travel expenses.
We are looking for people who:
- Have a story of themselves or their family coming to live in Barnet
- Can attend a one-hour long recording session in Barnet between on either 18 or 26 July 2026.
We are particularly interested in hearing from older residents who can share personal or family journeys to Barnet.
We also warmly welcome stories from those who have more recently arrived and may be younger. You might speak about a journey across countries, generations, or a more recent move.
No prior experience in recording or creative activities is required.
About the project
These stories will be recorded by sound artist and musician Greg White in Barnet and woven together into a new soundscape combining the voices of Barnet residents, local migratory bird recordings, and music.
This soundscape will accompany a large-scale projection artwork, where 100 video portraits of younger residents from across the borough will appear to float in mid-air — collectively reflecting the living legacy of these stories.
Each final story will be edited to approximately 3–4 minutes. As each story is heard, multiple portraits will appear and dissolve, celebrating a wide range of communities and backgrounds across Barnet.
The artwork will be displayed publicly in Barnet this November as part of a free multi-day arts and culture festival.
How to apply
Please send an audio or video recording of yourself telling your story by midnight, 7 June 2026 via one of the following:
- WhatsApp: 07448 816535
- Facebook Messenger: www.facebook.com/upprojectsarts
- Via this online form: https://upprojects.aidaform.com/journeys
If you would prefer, you can also send a short-written version of your story on the online form along with your contact details and we will follow up with you.
Recording your story
If you would like support recording your story, or would prefer to speak to someone first, please contact zoe@upprojects.com
We are excited to hear whatever story that you would like to tell, but this could include:
- Where you, or your family, came from (within the UK, or overseas)
- How you or your family came to live in Barnet – your journey (this may be within your lifetime or across multiple generations)
- How it has become your home
Deadline: Midnight, 7 June 2026.
