SE Barnet and Jane Watt  (under their collaborative partnership Blast Radius) developed, curated and took part in Research Art Lab a series of eleven artist residencies on Orford Ness National Nature Reserve in partnership with the National Trust, UK and University of Suffolk. The artists were invited to activate the disused Power House building and landscape into creative spaces and temporary studio laboratories to experiment and test new ways of working based on ecological and heritage research around the Ness, engaging with its shifting ecology and heritage.

This unique site of special scientific interest has a fragile ecology that is entwined in the ‘curated decay’ of former military testing sites dating from World War I through to the Cold War.

The artists’ activities draw on archival sources such as: early camouflage techniques from World War I that were tested on the Ness; to contemporary botanical drawings and coded compositions from commonly flora found on the shingle and marshland; to drawings and contact photographic prints made from recording trajectories of found materials.

The following artists took part in the Research Art Lab working in and around the Power House for 2-3 weeks during April - October 2025: SE Barnet, Jac Campbell, Sara Heywood, Ann-Marie James, Mahal de Man, Hillary Muskin, Emily Richardson, Srinivas Surti, Jevan Watkins Jones, Jane Watt, Caroline Wright.

Over the course of seven months, around 10,000 visitors visited the Research Art Lab at the Power House. There, they saw a range of artists at work, prompting dialogue, exchange and sharing of knowledge and experience of this unique place.

See more information about the project here