Joe Stevens: Artists Make Space and ‘Playable Works (Trust Me I’m An Artist)’

Joe has recently completed a January residency at Orleans House Gallery as part of the Artists Make Space programme. Here Joe writes about his experience of the programme and his practice. 

In the Orleans House Gallery Latest post from Wednesday 19 November 2025, Paloma Durante mentions that her ‘first studio in London was a notebook,’ going on to advise creators to ‘think of your notebook as a portable studio.’ This is advice which I have taken to heart. In the moments between studio sessions and sometimes during, my notebook became the extension and bridge between studio and home. Sometimes a guide and sometimes a provocation, it nevertheless proved a useful tool. It is shown here for the first time publicly as my ‘studio within the studio,’ the accompanying notebook pages for my Artists Make Space residency.  

The world is playable now and has been for some time. You can program it, bend it to your will. This persistent world has its flaws, of course. It works better for some than for others and it is constantly shifting and evolving, like a grand piece of generative art. I like game design and gameplay, aiming to incorporate such ideologies into my practice. My Artists Make Space residency resulted in the following outcomes, entitled Literary Works 1-3:  

1. Playable Pedestal (Icke’s Urn) Fourteen books stacked chronologically and used to derive a continuous profile of the dimensions of the books themselves.  

2. Playable Painting (Adrian Tomine) Nine books arranged to generate a shape for a canvas. 

3. Playable Painting (Tom Gauld) Seven books arranged to generate a painting composition. 

I loved the routine of coming to the workshop space for a set period and with the specific aim I set for myself of making three artworks. Once in the space, the sense of freedom and possibility was crucial. I didn’t need to rush; therefore, the process and ideas flowed naturally and beautifully from my initial premise. I now have a renewed sense of what is possible and a clearer idea of where my specific type of art can be taken. The whole experience was smooth, well realised and made it easy to focus on the work itself.  

At one point during the residency, when home in the evening, I remarked to my wife that I wished this routine, getting up and going to the studio for five hours each day, was my life all of the time! I suspect this is the dream of most, if not all, artists and to be given the taste of this life makes me hungry for more. Whilst here, including the Open Studio, I spent 81 hours over the course of four weeks, occupying the space on 16 different days and spending £177.70 on materials for use during the residency. Additionally, the Open Studio was attended by 38 people. A pleasing turnout!  

Subsequently, I’ve now broken new ground in terms of my Instagram reach, thanks to this programme. Over two thousand views were generated from content related to Artists Make Space. It was also a great pleasure to have each Thursday of my residency alongside a fellow artist in the Coach House. We had some brilliant chats, found some common ground artistically and influenced each other in ways that are hard to quantify, but definitely exist.  

As I touch on above, it is time, money, space and opportunity that are the main barriers for any artist. I’ve not met many artists who enjoy the hustle, the competition and the uncertainty that surround the practice itself. We just want to be artists! We are forced to be our own spokesperson, publicist, manager, agent and many more roles besides the making of art. Although these additional aspects are all necessary, I would love for the burden to be lightened in this regard. How great it would be to live our lives ‘without worrying about packing everything away at the end of the day’ (Durante, 2025).  

Artists Make Space offers free space for artists within the Borough. Find out more about the programme and the artists who have taken part.