⁠⁠Designed by Pearce+, each of the five accommodation pods at East Quay have their own concept and story, reflecting the town, its culture, heritage, and future. Each year, Contains Art invites a different artist/maker/creative practitioner to use the interior of Pod 5 as their canvas, transforming it into an immersive artwork/installation for guests to enjoy year-round during their stay.

This year, the commission was designed by artist and architect, Carlos Peñalver. His artwork ‘Watchet 2025’ is part of an ongoing series of experimental drawings called “Mind Maps”. To create these drawings, Carlos reproduces his experiences at a specific time and place, collecting pieces of memories and letting them reconstruct themselves naturally on the canvas, or in this case, on the walls of Pod 5. Through this process, Carlos creates a new landscape, a map, welcoming us in to traverse the place through his own mind.

During the construction of this piece, Carlos explored one of East Quay’s core programming themes: ‘Joy and Wonder’. He realised that he was drawing the question itself, leaving the answer open to each person’s reading.

If you would like to learn more about Carlos and his work, please visit his website: Carlos Penalver

Image credits: Jesse Wild