the vacuum cleaner and collaborators: For They Let In The Light

For They Let In The Light is a new live commission at Chisenhale Gallery by artist and mental health activist the vacuum cleaner (aka James Leadbitter), developed with a group of young artists he met during the spring of 2021 at the Coborn Centre for Adolescent Mental Health in Newham, East London. 

In his performances, films and site-specific interventions, the vacuum cleaner draws on his own experience of mental health disability, working with young people, health professionals and adults to challenge how mental health is understood, treated and experienced. This project responds to a crisis in young people’s mental health, amplifying the experiences of those uniquely isolated by the Covid-19 pandemic lockdowns.

In an intensive period of on-site work at the Coborn Centre, James and artistic collaborator Caroline Moore prompted the group to respond creatively to the question, “why are so many young people struggling with their mental health?” The resulting material—stories, dance, and music—captures textures of their physical and emotional environments. 

Once discharged from the hospital, the group came together again. The new focus became how to critically and carefully share work of such intensity and personal valence. For They Let In The Light, a series of hybrid open-studio events combining recordings with live performances, is the result. 

Through their work, the artists ask: what does it take to establish and maintain trust? How might artistic processes enable connection through and conversations about painful topics? And what new relationship does such a process permit you to have with your history, yourself and the systems in which we live?

For They Let In The Light, in the words of James, aims to be “messy, weird, from the heart, angry, honest, tender, fragile, complex, about mental health or not about mental health, urgent, necessary, and silly.” Attempting to shed light on what it means to be young and live with acute mental health struggles in a system that is largely failing young people, this project demonstrates what a more humane and caring one could look like. It is also a celebration of these young artists’ creativity and criticality.

Content warning
For They Let In The Light includes material and direct experiences surrounding mental health, including suicidal feelings, self-harm, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, mental health hospitals and the use of the Mental Health Act, sexual violence and childhood neglect.

Access 
Chisenhale’s studio has flat access with an all-genders, fully accessible loo. All events are relaxed. There will be space to lie down during the performances. A mental health nurse will be present during the sharings. An audio description and live captioning will be available on Friday, 2 December.

Depending on Covid rates during this time, you may be asked to wear a face mask if you are able. This is to protect the artists and one another.

Exhibition event
As part of the commissioning process, an afternoon of “in-conversations” has been devised in collaboration with the vacuum cleaner reflecting on For They Let In The Light, with artists, collaborators, curators and thinkers.

Talk: Sunday, December 4, 2pm (onsite)

Proceeds raised from the sharings will be used to fund a series of prints from From They Let In The Light, which will be donated to the Coborn Centre following the commission.If you cannot afford a donation, please email amina.jama@chisenhale.org.uk, and we can arrange a ticket for you (no one will be turned away based on financial reasons).

Biography: “the vacuum cleaner” (James Leadbitter) is an artist based in Margate, UK. Selected projects include: Exposure, Wellcome Collection, Royal Docks (2021); Mental, The Barbican, SpielArt Munich (2013-2019); Madlove: A Designer Asylum, FACT, Wellcome Collection, Broadmoor Hospital, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, Heart of Glass (2013); Ship of Fools, Bluecoat Liverpool, Projects Space London and Urban Institute for Contemporary Arts, Michigan (2011).

For They Let In The Light is commissioned and produced by Chisenhale Gallery.

For They Let In The Light is a collaboration between “the vacuum cleaner,” artist Caroline Moore, and the staff and young people they met at the Coborn Centre for Adolescent Mental Health at Newham Centre for Mental Health, London, in 2021.

Supported using public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England.

the vacuum cleaner’s Chisenhale commission is made possible with support from Deborah Roberts, Necessity and the Chisenhale Gallery Commissions Fund. With additional support from “the vacuum cleaner”’s Supporters’ Circle.

Chisenhale Gallery’s Talks and Events Programme 2022 is supported by Brian Boylan.

Chisenhale Gallery’s Schools’ Programme 2022–23 has been made possible through the generosity of Headline Supporter Goodman Gallery.