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The Making of CompostRave
A Collaborative Creative Residency with Andrew Paterson
During the Blank Canvas residency at the MAKE studio in Ayr, Andrew will build a local vermi-composting site in partnership with local residents and Eisenia fetida worms. Starting with gathered bedding materials and organic waste from the SHAPE café, they will build a growing compost bin system alongside public workshops on worm composting, circular bio-waste systems, and VJing culture. The residency will culminate in CompostRave, a live celebration featuring VJs, a DJ, and dancing to mark the end of the month long residency.
About Andrew Paterson
Self-styled 'artist-organiser', cultural producer, curator, educator, archivist and independent-interdependent researcher; Specialized in exploring connections between art, digital culture, science, cultural activism related to the commons, DIY/Do-It-With-Others, ecological and sustainability movements, along with cultural heritage and collaborative networks. Originally from Scotland, Andrew Gryf Paterson has an international practice of over 25 years, based in the Baltic Sea Region, most often in Helsinki, Finland. They (Eisenia fetida & Paterson) have been vermi-composting together now for a decade! 'VJ Clew' made their debut in November 2025.
Commons-oriented materials more or less archived here: http://agryfp.info
THE WORKSHOPS
Blank Canvas Artist Talk: Dirt under fingernails that use keyboards & screens by Andrew Gryf Paterson
Wed 4th November, 6:30pm - 7:30pm
What are the routes into a hands-on practice with dirt, soil, compost, gardens, when your hands are more often on device interfaces and not garden tools? Or: how do you encourage others to get involved? This presentation tells a story starting in 2002 and ends at the current moment in 2026. It focuses on 2 projects that on either end of this timeline, a virtual environment design project involving a garden with teenagers in 2002, and a VeeJaying (VJ) project with a 3D scanner and composting worms, designed to attract teenagers to get involved somehow, which started in 2025, ongoing. There's been much dirt under the fingernails inbetween all those years, including suburban allotment gardening, sharing Eisenia fetida and anti-instagram aesthetics.
The Auld Toy Shop, 25 Newmarket St, Ayr
VJ Clew
Thurs 5th, 12th, 19th & 26th November, 5pm - 7pm
Please Note: This is a 4-part weekly series taking place every Thursday evening in November (5th, 12th, 19th, & 26th November) from 5-7pm. You must be able to attend all workshops.
VJ Clew is a workshop for teenagers and adults over 4 sessions to learn:
- How to visualize the composting materials for a live event
- Learning about VJ-culture
- Learning together about open and free VJ-ing software
Our activity:
- Make video loops from the composting materials & other related materials
- Using different cameras and making 3d scans from composting materials
- Practice mixing live videos using open and free VJ-ing software
MAKE by Narture Studios 30 Newmarket St, Ayr
Wormy Disco
Sat 7th November, 10am - 12pn
Wormy Disco' introduces composting to children and young teens (6-14 years old) together with guardians, using basic cut-up/tear & mixing of composting materials, drawing, and coloured lighting, worm sensory systems; and observing what is in a compost bin.
- How do compost worms do good things for us?
- How can compost worms help your plants grow?
- How do you keep happy compost worms?
- How do you make your own health soil with the help of compost worms?
- How to use different light frequencies to see and learn different things
MAKE by Narture Studios 30 Newmarket St, Ayr
CompostRave
Fri 27th November, 6pm - 8pm
Join us for the grand celebration of The Making of CompostRave! This event shares the work made in the VJ Clew workshops and the journey into soil, sound, and sensory discovery, bringing the project to life in an evening of music and light.
Experience live visual art from VJ Clew, who will translate the organic rhythms and light frequency experiments of the process into dynamic, real-time projections. Along with sets from local DJs, the evening merges science, art, and dancefloor energy to celebrate everything built throughout the series.
MAKE by Narture Studios 30 Newmarket St, Ayr
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