ANDY WEBSTER
Rooms to Live was an interdisciplinary arts project by Derek Tyman and Andy Webster that ran at Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre from November 2023 to February 2024. The exhibition featured two immersive installations that functioned as both artworks and active performance venues throughout the 14-week duration.
The first installation recreated the Los Angeles house where Captain Beefheart and The Magic Band lived in isolation for eight months while creating their influential 1969 album Trout Mask Replica. A full-size replica of the band's bright red rehearsal room served as a performance space. The second installation presented a houseboat housing an extensive audio archive, referencing the fictional story of environmentalist Vanda Chan who became marooned on a Micronesian island with only recordings for company.
Both spaces hosted an extensive program of artist residencies, live performances, workshops, and community events. Musicians took up multi-day residencies while weekly performances featured both established and emerging artists. The program included workshops for families and specialised groups, film screenings, and daily broadcasts, creating ongoing dialogue between the historical spaces and contemporary creative practice.
Rooms to Live explored whether recreated environments from music history could function as catalysts for new creative work. By placing audiences inside the actual conditions that generated groundbreaking creativity—spaces of constraint and intense collaboration—the project investigated whether such transformative conditions retain their power today, challenging visitors to engage with experimental art's potential rather than treating it as a historical curiosity.
Contributing artists/musicians include: Andy Abbott, Ray Aggs (Trash Kit), a.P.A.t.T., Agathe de Bailliencourt, Britizen Kane, Bryan Biggs, Gina Birch, Celebratory Cake, Paula Chambers, Sophie Cooper, Alan Dunn & Merseytrout, Dani Ingham & Olli Tipling, Vanessa Govinden & Jagun Meseoria (Whitelands), Malcolm Garrett, Helen McCookerybook, Nguvu, Novacane, Redell Olsen, Shoehorn, Slumberman, Chardine Taylor-Stone, David Wilkinson & Jon Gardner (Mamas of Dada), Bianca Wilson (Peg Wells), Joan the Wad & Thought Universe, and Gillian Wylde.
The work was funded by Arts Council England, and Bury Art Museum & Sculpture Centre.