Heads! Look To The Workers

Laura Wilson's new commission, Heads! Look To The Workers, is on display at V&A East Museum through Sunday 18 October. It's part of the museum's New Work programme, and the whole thing grew out of three years of research into east London's histories of manufacturing, industrialisation and creativity, starting with Wilson's 2024 Bow Arts Trust x V&A East Fellowship.

The work itself consists of three stainless-steel circular sculptures, each with a poem laser-etched into the disc. The opening line — 'The lumper, the lurker, the baker, the weaver, the spinner, the sampler, the spark...' — sets the tone, naming the area's workers and makers. Every day, the V&A East team calls 'Heads!' and lowers the sculptures on a mechanical fly system, the kind used in docks and theatres. The movement is meant to echo shift patterns and the tidal flows of the River Thames. Wilson also recorded the poem along the river, near her Bow Arts Trust studio at Royal Albert Wharf.

There's a strong link to the local trade here, too. The fabric dressing each piece comes from JD McDougalls, a theatrical supplier in Stratford, in colours drawn from high-vis safety clothing, early 20th-century workwear and the avocado-pink of overalls at V&A Storehouse. It's a piece that looks back at the people who built the east end, and it does it with materials and a mechanism that belong to the same world.

It's on show until Sunday 18 October, with the museum open 10.00 to 17.30 on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18. Entry is free. You'll find it at V&A East Museum, 107 Carpenters Rd, London, E20 2AR.