This workshop series was developed for primary schools across Glasgow, inviting pupils to think critically and creatively about the city they live in and the one they want to see. Over three sessions, pupils move from mapping their current city to designing and building sculptural solutions to the problems their city faces, before finally creating zines, placards, and guides that give voice to their collective vision for the future.
The programme was delivered to 25 classes across 9 schools from 2024-26, bringing contemporary art practice and creative thinking directly into the classroom.
Anderson Primary School / Battlefield Primary School / Hillhead Primary School / Knightswood Primary School / Oakgrove Primary School / St Patrick's Primary School / Sunnyside Primary School / St Angela's Primary School / Saracen Primary School
Pupils started by collectively making a map of the city, drawing what is important and memorable to them. Then, the pupils experimented with printmaking, considering what patterns could represent real-life objects. We used the prints to make abstract maps that represent our ideas for the future.
Pupils were asked to consider the problems they think the city faces today and respond to them imaginatively. Problems ranged from a lack of varied outdoor spaces to not welcoming people from other countries and vaping. Pupils then worked together to create 3D solutions using clay and readymade materials, as the 2D map from session one begins to grow into a 3D city.
During the final session, pupils bring together their ideas to create zines that express their wishes for our future city, who they want to live there, and what changes they envision. Pupils dress up as city inhabitants and perform their zines to their classmates.