Art at Sunset
FREE ENTRY
Find us in Centre:MK
This summer Arts Central x LitFest are taking over 8 Sunset Walk in Centre:MK for a month of literature, art and music.
From 6 August stop by between 12 and 4 to discover a changing programme of workshops and displays celebrating local art and artists
FREE DISPLAYS
6-12 AUG
Jakub Rokita: Legacy materials
Monica Blackwood: Sustainable and creative upcycled furniture
Gary Young: Sculpture – enGineered aesthetic
14-19 AUG
Margaret Keeton, Jane Charles, Helen Simms, Emma Wilde: Space
21-24 AUG
Group Showcase with Maheen Sheikh
25-31 AUG
Fine artist Hattie Beard
FREE WORKSHOPS
2 AUG
Jakub Rokita: Music Workshop – Sonic Sediments
7 AUG
MK LitFest: 2-3 Jennifer Claessen 6-8 John Grindrod
9 AUG
Mark Browne + Bruno Guastalla + Jon Samsworth: Instruments, Voice and Improvisation
13 AUG
MK LitFest: 2-3 Helen Bowell 6-8 Will Burns
16 AUG
Lawrence Casserley: Electronic Improvisation
19 AUG
MK LitFest: 11-12 Alex Willmore 6-8 Helen Bowell
23 AUG
Sylvia Hallett + Ivor Kallin: Violins, Voice and Found Objects
30 AUG
Jakub Rokita: Sonic Sediments
Silkscreen prints by Jakub Rokita
Jakub’s screen prints explore the intersection of colour, form, and process. Using layered geometric shapes, bold monochromatic fields, and gestural marks, the works play with the tension between precision and spontaneity. Halftones and translucent inks create shifting optical effects as colours overlap, while occasional painterly gestures disrupt the structure, leaving a trace of the artist’s hand.
These screen prints are unique works born from a process of cut‑up serialism. Each print emerges from a shifting recombination of colours and patterns: a series of five impressions in one colour might be partially overprinted days later with new layers, meaning no two prints are ever the same.
Rather than treating screen printing as a way to make identical multiples, Jakub uses it to create variation and unpredictability. The bold shapes and layered textures draw on the graphic language of Brutalist architecture, mid‑century design, industrial signage and mapping systems, resulting in works that feel at once structured and experimental.
enGineered aesthetic by Gary Young
Garry Young is a self-taught Sculptor from Luton. He studied Welding and engineering craft studies at the University of Bedfordshire and uses these processes as transitional skills to learn and make sculpture.
His style throughout has been a more of an engineered approach which he calls an enGineered aesthetic, or enGineering the Aesthetic, to making sculptures that take on a more Futuristic approach.
Adventures in Sound
(presented by Acoustic Survey Art Lab)
A month-long sound art lab exploring how layers of sound accumulate and transform across time, space, and community.
Adventures in Sound brings together sound artists, improvisers, and the public in a five-week programme of live performance, workshops, and deep listening. Each Saturday in August, artists will respond to the space with their own sonic practice – from saxophones and strings to contact mics, DIY instruments, electronics, and even tap dance – layering sounds into a growing collective work.
Each session will offer opportunities for visitors and audiences to participate actively, learn, and co‑create, whether through hands‑on workshops, short lectures on sound, group improvisations, or collaborative performances. Every Saturday will be a one‑off experience, shaped by the artists and those who join them.
Throughout the duration, the space will also be animated by small sound projects, unexpected interventions, and displays of visual art, sculptures, and art‑objects by a diverse range of Arts Central Artists.
Adventures in Sound celebrates sound as a material that can be gathered, layered, and transformed – revealing the acoustic “footprints” we leave behind.
Sat 9 Aug – Mark Browne + Bruno Guastalla + Jon Samsworth: Instruments, Voice and Improvisation
12-4pm
Saxophonist and percussionist Mark Browne joins us with a thrilling arsenal of DIY instruments and objects. Expect spontaneous improvisations, unexpected textures, and collaborative sessions inviting the audience to explore sound-making.
Bruno Guastalla has been a violin and ‘cello maker/restorer for the past forty years, as well as a practising musician. Questions around perception, language and shape-making come up a lot in his approach. Bruno uses voice and electronics as well as ‘cello
Jon Samsworth is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with an interest in improvisation, audio production, cajons and crumhorns.
Sat 16 Aug – Lawrence Casserley: Electronic Improvisation
12-4pm
Lawrence Casserley will lead an exploration of real-time sound transformation, demonstrating how his custom-built Signal Processing Instrument reshapes live audio from voice, percussion, and found objects. Participants will have the chance to see and hear their own sounds transformed through his live electronics, creating shifting textures and immersive sonic landscapes. Lawrence will also discuss his unique approach to improvisation, blending acoustic and electronic elements, and guide participants in collaborative sound-making exercises.
Sat 23 Aug – Sylvia Hallett + Ivor Kallin: Violins, Voice and Found Objects
12-4pm
Sylvia Hallett works with violin, voice, and contact-mic’d found objects such as branches, wheels, and scrap materials to create rich, textural improvisations. In this session, she’ll explore sound-making using everyday materials and invite participants to listen closely, experiment, and respond. She’ll be joined by Ivor Kallin, who will guide a vocal improvisation inspired by the rhythmic traditions of Hebridean waulking songs, encouraging collective participation through voice and repetition.
Sat 30 Aug – Sonic Sediments
12-4pm
Our closing day ends the series with a collaborative workshop. Take part in listening exercises, a scavenger hunt, and collective “scratch orchestra” sessions, and help shape the sound environment for the day.
Sonic Sediments will continue throughout the month of August
Take part in listening exercises, a scavenger hunt, and collective “scratch orchestra” sessions, and help shape the sound environment for the day.
Donations Are Welcome
Arts Gateway MK (AGMK) is a non-profit organisation dedicated to making art inclusive and accessible to individuals from all backgrounds and varying skill levels. The organisation firmly believes in the power of art to inspire and enrich lives and is committed to providing opportunities for everyone to engage with and participate in artistic endeavours
