The Travellers Rest

9th October – 11th December 2026

Preview: Friday 9th October // 6pm – 8pm
Exhibition open Tuesdays – Thursdays // 11am – 4pm
& Mondays // 4.30pm – 6.30pm (closed 26th Oct & 2nd Nov)
& during events

The Travellers Rest is a fabricated public-house installation that invites visitors to encounter, reflect, and discuss the ideas behind Creating Fallow – a two-year Shieldfield Art Works programme exploring rest as a form of resistance and a social justice issue.  

To mark the halfway point of Creating Fallow, SAW have invited artists Toby Lloyd and Andrew Wilson to respond to the programme by creating an fabricated public house installation that will host this research before it moves into its second phase in 2027.

Between October – December 2026 The Travellers Rest welcomes you to explore and contribute to these themes via the installation which includes a bar, a juke box, a newspaper publication, radio broadcasts, an events programme, and a live Broadcast Bartender event. 

Broadcast Bartender

The Travellers Rest will host a live Broadcast Bartender event from Shieldfield Art Works on Thursday 22 October, 2026 – Book your free ticket here.

A conversation event like no other. Broadcast Bartender invites five guest drinkers and one guest bartender to discuss the themes of the programme from The Travellers Rest bar in front of a live audience. Think of Question Time, but down your local. 

Topics for discussion may include: Work, Labour, Rest, Sabbath, Disability, Universal Basic Income, Class, Care, Capitalism, Pubs, Parenting, Songs, Friendship, and Fun. Booking is essential.  

Tea & Toast

During the exhibition Shieldfield Art Works will be hosting Tea & Toast sessions which will focus on a key question on the themes of rest and creativity. Feel free to just come and chat or listen. Tea and toast provided. All welcome.

Wednesday 28 October, 12.30pm – 2pm – exploring how our society often relies on the goodwill of volunteers, DIY culture, and Mutual Aid

Wednesday 4 November, 12.30pm – 2pm – exploring patterns of rest in the non-human world as part of Shieldfield Grows monthly meals. Bring a dish of food to share.

Wednesday 11th November, 12.30 – 2.30pm – Exploring what the concept of Sabbath rest realistically looks like today, how spiritual practice contributes to wellbeing, and how the Church as an institution has both helped and hindered individuals to rest. 

Wednesday 25 November, 12.30pm – 2pm – exploring how leisure, work and vocation intersect for artists and creatives.

Saturday 28 November, 1pm – 4pm – restorative tea & toast for weary shoppers, coinciding with Ouseburn Open Studios. Those who are behind the Creating Fallow programming will be available to chat about the thinking behind this project.

Wednesday 2 December, 12.30pm – 2pm – exploring if rest is possible as a caregiver/parent. There will be child-friendly activities as part of this session, as well as time for grown ups to chat.

Add to the The Travellers Rest Jukebox:

We invite you to contribute to The Travellers Rest collective soundtrack by sharing up-to ten songs that we can add to our installation jukebox – which plays real CDs! 

How to contribute?

1. Make a CD at home – burn a CD of up to ten songs and bring it into the gallery. We will then add it to the jukebox for you and others to listen to for the duration of the installation. 

2. Don’t know how to make a CD or don’t have the means to do so – do not worry. If you write a playlist of up-to ten songs and bring it into the gallery we will make the physical CD for you.

What kind of music can I put on the CD? Anything you like. Songs that have a connection to the project themes of work, rest and sabbath are welcome, but it can be any music that you would like to share within the installation.

What we don’t want? Pre-existing CDs that you own – Queen’s Greatest Hits 2 or Now That’s What I Call Music 55, for example. We want a selection of songs that you have chosen.

Checklist for making a contribution:

• Essential: List of songs (up to 10)
• Desirable: Burn songs onto a CD
• Desirable: Share/Upload files for us to burn onto a CD
• Desirable: Add links to YouTube or another source so we can download the tracks

Closing Celebration: Thursday 10 December, 6pm – 10pm

Come and celebrate the closing of the exhibition with an evening of Karaoke inspired by The Travellers Rest Jukebox. Led by artists Emma Edmondson and Paige Ockendon the evening will begin with a round of Burnout Bingo  The karaoke dance floor is a leveller where everyone is a star. But it can also be a place of vulnerability, especially if you have not karaoke’d before or you think you can’t sing. Here, there are no expectations to sing, no pressure to perform. All are welcome.