Artist Call-Out: A workshop on performing retail, hype and the cult of the collectable

19 partners have selected 10 peer-to-peer Do It Together (DIT) projects to take place across the country from April – September 2026, igniting a nation-wide network for process-led experimental practice.

Each DIT project has been designed by different artists. From creative labs, movement workshops, silent retreats and trips to the casino and back, the artists have created co-learning frameworks to inform and inspire other artists’ practices as well as their own, connect and try things out together.

Through an open application process, the lead artists are now looking to gather between 5 – 15 artists to join them in a collective enquiry, supported by local partners. Whatever form they take, the DIT projects offer alternative approaches to professional development through the perspectives, desires and methodologies of artists rather than institutions.

Knowing that the development of Live Art practice is as much about embodied experiences as training in skills and techniques, the DIT programme is an invitation to share the process.

DIT is a reactivation of LADA’s flagship programme DIY (2002-2020). We know that DIY has always been about collective movements, but now, more than ever, we need to do it together.

DIT 2026: Paula Varjack – The LABUBU EFFECT

Performing retail, hype and the cult of the collectable

What
This three-day workshop invites eight artists to investigate contemporary cultures of consumerism – from hype drops and independent boutiques, to resale markets and ‘cute’ collectable unboxing TikToks – as sites of live performance.

Together we’ll ask:
What can artists observe from the aesthetics and atmospheres of retail environments?
How do online spaces (and the algorithms within them) inform our desires and create hype?
How can we disrupt or reflect these spaces through small, uncanny interventions?
Through field observation, site specific experiments, discussion and hybrid (IRL/online) micro performances, participating artists/practitioners will map how consumerism influences and creates desire, and experiment with ways to perform and disrupt it.

We will learn by inhabiting, misusing and mirroring the retail rituals that surround us online, and in person. This will be a collective space for dialogue, experiment, play and investigation.
We are living in a time of extreme financial precarity and increasingly rapid micro-trends. Together we will explore how one informs the other, and how consumerism becomes an act of coping, comforting and creating a (false) sense of belonging.

Where
Activities will take place in person in Brighton.
As well as a venue near the high street, shopping centre and/or department store (exact locations to be confirmed), we will also meet in the studios at Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts.

When
Friday 3 – Sunday 5 July 2026
Within the hours of 10am-6pm with a lunch break included. Timings to be confirmed.

Who
This DIT project seeks eight participating arts/practitioners with interest in exploring consumerism as a point of investigation for performance.

Deadline: Mon 23 Feb, 6pm. Apply here.
Image credit: Ben Gregory

About Do It Together

Do It Together (DIT) is a peer-to-peer professional development programme that enables artists to explore ideas, aesthetics and sociopolitical realities together.

Knowing that the development of a live art practice is as much about methodologies and experiences as training in skills and techniques, DIT invites artists to delve into collective enquiries and share their process.
DIT reimagines LADA’s flagship programme, DIY, which ran unique professional development projects BY artists FOR artists from 2002 to 2020. For 2026, LADA reactivates the programme as Do It Together (DIT) in line with our renewed focus on co-learning.

Still DIY, but Together, the crucial shift is that each project will be supported by two national partners instead of one. By increasing the support at a time when both independents and organisations are struggling to resource artist development, DIT ignites a nation-wide support network for process-led experimental practice.
We know that DIY has always been about collective movements, but now, more than ever, we need to do it together.

Find out more, click here.

All DIT partners in alphabetical order

Art Gene
Artsadmin
Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
//BUZZCUT//
Colchester Arts Centre
Duckie
Fierce Festival
Future Ritual
GroundWork Gallery
hÅb
Home Live Art
Lancaster Arts
Lowry
Marlborough Productions
Metal
Norfolk & Norwich Festival
performance, possession + automation
Scottish Sculpture Workshop
Take Me Somewhere