Boscombe World

Harold Offeh

16-25 June 2023, Boscombe Arts Depot 

B.A.D. featured our major festival exhibition 2023, Boscombe World, commissioned from artist Harold Offeh, an adventurous visual and sensory art installation, inviting play, participation and contemplation.

The installation invited visitors to engage with Boscombe as a place of healing and restorative care. Boscombe World became a hub for a number of playful installations. The project hoped to provide an opportunity to reflect on the rich and complex narratives of Boscombe and challenge reducing places and communities to labels, like good, bad, ugly etc. It sought to confront cliches and stereotypes and provide a platform for narratives and voices that have not been heard or marginalised.

“Boscombe World explores the area’s rich history as a seaside resort for visitors in search of health, recuperation and pleasure, brought into dialogue with Boscombe’s contemporary perception as a place for recovery, sanctuary and asylum.” Harold Offeh

Harold Offeh is an artist working in a range of media including performance, video, photography, learning and social arts practice. Offeh is interested in the space created by the inhabiting or embodying of histories. He employs humour as a means to confront the viewer with historical narratives and contemporary culture. He has exhibited and performed widely in the UK and internationally including Tate Britain and Tate Modern, South London Gallery, Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge, Wysing Art Centre, Studio Museum Harlem, New York, MAC VAL, France, Kunsthal Charlottenborg, Denmark and Art Tower Mito, Japan.