New Art Gallery, Walsall,Yoke and Zoom Artists Residency April 14th- July 5th 2008.

The ongoing project Mobile Cottage Industry was begun by the production of a small mobile cottage in the gallery foyer. A 1957, 2 berth caravan bought on ebay was re-appropriated to create a black and white thatched cottage. The caravan, known as known as Penguin Cottage has travelled extensively throughout Europe with its previous owners.

New features were added onto the exterior, including: removable thatch for the roof and permanent faux timber exterior beams. We also made minor alterations to the interior. These add-ons complement the caravan's original leaded windows, and transform penguin cottage into a genuine mock tudor idyll.

This mobile English cottage can move to any location. Having the potential to park virtually anywhere and to be moved through many environments, the artwork becomes a mutable, recreational space and a provider of shelter. It becomes a public space for dialogue that is relaxed and makes people feel at home, and is also a private space that the artists use. The boundaries blur fluidly between private and public space. The mobile cottage is also a host space for artists industries. Various Cottage industries are run from here.

Is the stability of the ideal home threatened by the possibility for sudden movement, or does this provide an example of a micro-utopian living situation that could be duplicated?

Simultaneously at home and away, the cottage questions the politics of home ownership, making its home in public space, both in rural and urban environments.

The cottage was be parked in the gallery foyer in anticipation of future touring and has since visited: The Big Chill Eastnor, Zoo Art Fair, London, Tate Modern London and Attingham Park Shropshire.See blog: http://yokeandzoominresidence.blogspot.com/

The project is featured in MR Motley. March/April/May 2009