Shaping

Part of Movements for Staying Alive at Modern Art Oxford

In Shaping, Leap Then Look transform a gallery into a participatory environment where bodies, objects, and movement co-author the work.

Visitors of all ages are invited to touch, wear, reconfigure, and explore-from padded fabric forms to metal tubing, from wearable sculptures to mobile frames. The space is designed to respond to the small acts of exploration we often take for granted, letting every gesture, shift, and interaction become part of the work itself.

Developed in collaboration with young people, Shaping allows the gallery to become a "sandbox" — a site of play, improvisation, and discovery. As Aesthetica describes it:

“Here, institutional authority gives way to openness. It's a space of shared curiosity.”
AESTHETICA MAGAZINE

In this way, Shaping underscores one of the exhibition's central ideas: movement is not spectacle, but a way to connect, to speak, and to reshape the spaces we inhabit.