“THIS is how you do an artist residency!”  Abrah Ophelia Katzman / Artist In Residence

undeveloped

A weekender development and residency opportunity for 12 emerging artists over 12 months. Each artist will be invited to stay at the co-curator’s flat for the weekend, to share food, ideas and develop some small piece of ephemeral encounter or performance, in whatever form they want.  

This work-in-progress - called a disposable - will be shared with a small invited audience, and the gathering will be documented using a disposable camera. This camera will never be developed - instead, the images will live inside of it, like memories in a body, and it will be added to the shelf/break archive for a future installation. 

At the end of a 12-month trial of this project, we will apply to do another 12 months, culminating in a public exhibition of the 24 disposable cameras.

hosting

undeveloped emerged from our commitment to hosting as an artistic and activist practice. Over the last four years we have hosted meetings, fundraisers, performances, and parties out of our living spaces, and to embed that into the work of shelf/break feels like a natural progression. We see hosting as a way of embodying the practice of artist support, of creating welcoming and nurturing spaces for artists to experiment and dream, free from the pressures of financial instability and harm which make up the real world.

Hosting is also important to our previous work, both solo and as a duo. we are on the brink of something is a communal experience, hosted with mint tea and ritual care. It is a show built on a commitment to the radical nature of hosting people in community, and the way that art can unite us to take action to change the world. Néa has previously curated spaces for events such as communal dinners and herbalism workshops at the welfare organisation Healing Justice London. Meanwhile, Jane makes one-to-one performances interested in inviting the audience into an altered space within a house party or festival. These different forms of the act of inviting and of hosting find themselves ultimately expressed in undeveloped.

disposable index

  • Abrah Ophelia Katzman

    disposable 001

    Abrah Ophelia Katzman is a London-based multi-disciplinary artist and a recent graduate of New York University’s Musical Theatre program. With a diverse background in performance, Abrah has appeared on musical theatre stages across the United States and in short films in Los Angeles. Their London debut was marked by a collaboration with Kelsey Sullivan on The 12th Annual Clown Show of Sidcup, an interactive clown show and theatrical piece. Abrah’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival debut took place last August in Worm Teeth by Kelsey Sullivan. Currently, they are developing This Play is a Dildo with Sango Tajima, set to premiere in March at Theatre Deli after a scratch night at Underbelly Soho.

  • Kay Rowan / ghostgirl

    disposable 002

    Kay Rowan (she/her) is a trans, multi-disciplinary creative, working as a songwriter, storyteller, composer and performer. Having trained as a classical composer, she has written music for both stage and screen, collaborating with ensembles like Psappha and Echo Vocal Ensemble to name a few. She also releases folk music under the moniker “ghostgirl”, which has to date included a number of singles, a full length EP, “I’m going out, and I may be some time”, and an appearance at Cambridge Folk Festival. She is currently writing her first book, which she is hoping to announce more about soon.

  • Santi Tonauac Castro

    disposable 003

    “This residency was the perfect way to escape the constant pressure of submissions and applications and actually be able to focus on the art I want to explore. I found joy in the unexpected!!!”

    Santi Tonauac Castro (he/him) is an Indigenous Mexican-Cuban 2spirit artist. Santi is a schizophrenic, indigiqueer future seeker and radically humanist genre translator. Santi weaves doom jazz chaos bombs in the shape of plays, poems, and performance. He is a decolonial border challenger, a traditional Aztec danzante, and a tattooed sweetheart.

  • Oz Dennett

    disposable 004

    “I had an absolute blast working with Jane and Néa, it was a much needed break from the world to get back in touch with my artistic side and feel free to make again. I feel it’s an experience all artists deserve, especially those of us who don’t often get the spaces to create and share.”

    Oz Dennett (He/They) is a feminist performer, artist and change maker based in London. Their work often explores childhood healing, fat acceptance and gender nonconformity; all wrapped up in a pastel goth aesthetic!

  • Tatenen Porter

    disposable 005

    “This residency was an amazing opportunity for me to finally showcase the work that I am craving to create and put out. I’ve been in such need of a space where I can actually do this kind of performance without worrying about cost or being told I can’t have certain elements that are integral to my work. It was an amazing environment that I felt completely comfortable to be vulnerable in and I am so happy to finally be exploring my true creativity.”

    Tatenen Porter is a London-based delusionist whose work blurs the lines between reality and hallucination. As a designer, kink practitioner, composer, musician and performance artist, Tatenen conjures immersive worlds steeped in trauma, kink, psychosis, and the raw pursuit of authentic identity. Their art is a ritual, a confrontation with the self and a séance for the unseen. Tatenen channels fractured states of being into transgressive beauty with their body as their archive.

  • Josephine Long

    disposable 006

    “undeveloped has been such a wonderful weekend. Being able to have the space to create work feels like a luxury right now, and to have support from two artist willing to open their home and curate a weekend full of provoking workshops and the space to play is mind-blowing.”

    Josephine Long is London-based performance artist, often exploring themes of the body, transness, and our place as individuals in the world.

disposable 007 / Hybrid Cities


This iteration has taken on a new form. Stretching the boundaries of what liveness can look like and feel like.

In previous months, this residency has responded to our flat in London. This disposable, however, we have all been in different places and time zones, creating an exciting opportunity to take undeveloped international. Two artists, two curators, 5 time zones. Below are the places which each person was in during July 2025:

Sango Tajima / Ibaraki & Tokyo, Japan. Taipei & Taichung, Taiwan.

Natasha Du Prez / Los Angeles, USA.

Néa Ishana Ranganathan / Washington D.C. & Brooklyn, USA.

Jane Morris / London, UK.

We have always had an interest in cities as shelf/break - We talk about the ways cities are like people - How you can have a profound relationship with a city, or a person, who you know for only a day or a week, and equally have one with a city or person you know your whole life, continually returning to it.

We want to explore what memories and stories we can all find in our respective cities, whether we are there as strangers, old friends, or prodigal children. At this moment of intensifying fascist violence against migrants, we want to think about international solidarity and what it means to cross borders and make art in new places, with new people.

We are interested in the way our memories are defined by places, and how our art-making or organising practices directly respond to the physical environment we are in dialogue with.

Natasha Du Prez

“This has been such a healing experience because it’s reminded me that not all art has to have been made to the best of your ability, and the main thing is how you are experiencing the making of it, which I will try to carry forward with me!” 

Natasha Du Prez is originally from England but has been living in LA for the last 2 years. She loves music and likes to make it too. She also loves meerkats, Halloween, movies and animation. Natasha also REALLY loves making things with lovely friends.

Natasha’s Music

Something like a goodbye.

Sango Tajima

“This residency felt like a gentle but meaningful way to connect with artists across the globe and stay connected to my artistry.”

Sango Tajima (she/her) is a Japanese-American writer, performer, and director working at the intersection of theatre and film. Her work often explores themes of displacement, identity, and cultural intersections.

Sango’s Website

  • Korrigan Edwards

    disposable 008

    “Undeveloped was such a precious, generous experience and I can’t express how much I valued it. To be able to dedicate two days to reflection and discussion around organising and sustainability, with fellow artists and organisers, was such a joy. This is what a residency should be, a moment of sharing and collaboration away from the eyes of institutions.”

    Korrigan Edwards (they/he/she) is an organiser and interdisciplinary artist, whose practice spans from performance to facilitation to interactive installation to writing. Their practice is rooted in calls for action, in direct threats to institutions and in building alternative, grassroots ways of being and making. As an artist and a person of conscience, she considers it their duty to fight back against the war machine and be a part of the struggle for a free Palestine, from the River to the Sea.

  • Kaiaa Shepnekhi-Boston

    disposable 009

    “Remember to find your warmth whether from a cup of tea or from a kiss of sunshine. I felt so held during the weekend with both Néa and Jane which allowed me to be free to play and create. Within their kindness and generosity I had space to grow. I just hope to keep growing here.”

    Kaiaa Shepnekhi-Boston is a multidisciplinary performance artist who comes from the heart of west london. Their work is focused on the liberation of the expression of people through joy play and artistic mediums. 

  • Bille Antimony

    disposable 010

documentation

undeveloped grew out of an interest in the physicality of documentation and archives. In our previous activist work, we have explored how you embody and work with archival material in pursuit of liberation. We are great admirers of the work of various radical museums and live art archives around Britain and the world. Documentation of performance work is a double-edged sword, necessary for securing funding and archiving work, but ultimately running counter to the liveness and the fragility of the encounter between audience and performer. 

In undeveloped, we host a space where the artist can feel truly free to try and fail, to experiment and take risks, secure in the knowledge that this brief flickering of connection will not be suspended in time to be examined or judged by those who come after.

The disposable cameras, alongside our collection of ephemera (sketches, polaroids,  notes, props, etc), are all that survive the performance. It serves as a metaphor for the audience member - A machine which captures images but which cannot transmit them with the exactitude of modern technology. The images live inside of it, the way all images live inside a body.

Over the years, as the camera is held in our collection, the film inside it will slowly degrade, becoming impossible to recover, and entering oblivion. The loss of these memories over time emphasises the transitory nature of live performance encounters. As the images fade in the memory of the artists and audience members who were there, so too do they fade in the camera. 

However, the physical object of the camera in our collection will remain preserved. This is what we mean when we think about the physicality of documentation and archives. By keeping an archive of physical objects, we can use the archaeological nature of archives to present our work in future. Each camera is labelled, and when encountered as an object in a gallery, it conjures up imagined images of it being used, of what it may have captured, of what it may have encountered. The haunting and haunted nature of physical objects allows a far more embodied and sensual encounter with a performance archive than digital documentation or text alone allows.

artist development & curation

We are deeply committed to artist development. It’s at the core of our practice as curators and producers. We know how difficult and demoralising the state of the arts is for emerging artists. We know how hard it is to create in the face of endless dehumanisation and oppression. Creating small oases for creativity and rest is a radical practice. By giving artists space to experiment, to discuss their practice, to engage with one another’s work, we hope we allow them to rebuild their confidence and stretch into new forms and styles of making. 

We are also interested in the intimacy of encounter-based performance. Fifteen years ago there was an explosion of one-to-one performance, which has subsided greatly with the cuts to funding and changes in live art culture. We want to be part of a movement to revitalise the one-to-one and encounter-based forms by challenging our artists to make work for small groups in unconventional spaces, outside of the normal theatre, gallery,  or cabaret settings. 

Supporting artists to grow is one of the most rewarding parts of our work, and it is something we hope to pursue throughout our careers. If you are looking for producers or curators to work with you on your artist development programmes, please get in touch with us.

audience feedback

“undeveloped is a wonderfully inviting and intimate space for artists to experiment and push creative boundaries. As an audience member, I felt fully welcomed into the home/artistic space, and there was a palpable sense of anticipation and intrigue about what would unfold. The experience was closed out with a delicious warm meal, refreshing drinks, and engaging conversations about the work.”

Sango Tajima / Audience Member 

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“undeveloped has been an amazing experience to witness artists pursue work in a new and exciting way: asking them to create something in a space as simple as a home in one weekend. Unlike anything I have seen before undeveloped has managed to inspire and produce unique pieces of art that must be viewed there and then.

How can artists create work without a studio or money?

Matters must be taken into their own hands by creating work that feels urgent and important, documented but not seen, and given a moment to explore freely and wildly in the redefined space of the home. Watching undeveloped month after month has been an exciting new take on what doing a residency means and what it can produce for artists and organisations alike and I’ll be tuning in as much as I can.”

Josephine Long / Audience Member & Artist In Residence 

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“I loved being an audience member at undeveloped for Santi’s sharing. It was a truly playful and communal space, and I loved watching and participating in the piece!”

Arlie White / Audience Member 

“Coming into undeveloped for the first time was an incredible experience. From being welcomed with delicious food and friendly company, to being invited to witness and take part in a shared space of creation through a healing act of destruction. Coming together in that moment was a powerful exploration into vulnerability, consumerism, and style.”

Billie Antimony / Audience Member & Artist In Residence 

moving forward

We are currently building an ACE application to run undeveloped as a paid opportunity throughout 2026. If you are able to offer us any support in kind for this application, we would love to hear from you!

We are also actively searching for a host venue for undeveloped 2026, that would be willing for us to use their space once a month.

If you are an artist who wants to participate :

unveveloped / artist form 

If you are a venue that wants to host us in the future :

unveveloped / venue form 

Find more info via our linktree :

shelf/break linktree