Wicked Changes VI: Meanwhile | Part 1

Wicked Changes VI: Meanwhile | Part 1

10 Years Back in Hackney Wick

11th July - 28th August 2026

Private View 10th July 2026 (RSVP)

Felstead Art | Studio

12 Felstead Street, London, E9 5LT

Nearest Station: Hackney Wick

This years Wicked Changes VI partners with artist Aida Wilde to present Meanwhile… 10 Years Back, an exhibition looking back through 10 years of Hackney Wick to the iconic Napier project and the Save Yourselves exhibition of 2016. The exhibition will be spread over 2 sites in Hackney Wick from July through to September.

July 2016 saw the decent of the “Lunatics” in a 48-hour take-over of the iconic Lord Napier derelict pub situated on the corner of White Post Lane in Hackney Wick. The brain child of local artist/social commentator Aida Wilde, who curated the project and organised over 29 multi-disciplinary artists - all of which had either lived, worked, or contributed to the ever-changing landscape of the artistic/street art scene of the “wastelands & warehouses” over the years. 

To mark the 10 year anniversary of the “Lunatics Takeover” of the Lord Napier, and to commemorate this iconic and influential project that took place on a landmark building that was the beating heart of Hackney Wick, we have invited artists and creators to participate in an open call exhibition. Part archival and part curation, the exhibition showcases both those who have captured or documented this monumental building between the dates of 2016-2020, as well as those responding to the ever changing environment of Hackney Wick since.

WICKED CHANGES EXHIBITION SERIES

Wicked Changes explores how artists respond to our current urban and social challenges. The much-visited narratives of change in East London, in particular Hackney Wick, are those of redevelopment; who is involved in creating new voices for the area, and who is left behind. This exhibition series present how artists observation and respond to the physical and social changes in their neighbourhood. 

From the impact of gentrification to the erosion of creative spaces, from environmental pressures to the rising cost of living, Wicked Changes foregrounds the lived experiences of artists who continue to navigate and resist the currents of displacement and transformation. 

East London has long been celebrated for its layered histories of migration, industry, and creativity. Its rich and complex demographic continues to find new ways of building solidarity through artistic practice. As local creative capital is perpetually threatened by redevelopment, the need for community support and collective agency remains urgent. 

This is our ongoing call to preserve the voice of the artist - an invitation to listen, to look, to remember, and to reckon with how power flows through the streets, buildings, and stories of Hackney Wick today.