Imagination Train

We were delighted to have been awarded a Derbyshire Makes Creative and Community grant for our project Imagination Train.

Imagination Train is a co-created installation connecting multiple ‘train worlds’ made by Amber Valley’s local communities with a miniature train and track. A camera projected a train-eye view of this communally created and imaginative landscape onto the wall of the space for all to enjoy.

The project celebrates the creativity inherent in designing and making model railway layouts, whilst also taking inspiration from miniaturism, theatre set-design and mixed-media installations. Lead Artist Martin Paling is interested in using trains and train travel as a means to explore connectivity between people and places, and to explore physical and imagined landscapes that connect everything from nostalgia to visions of the future,
Warhammer to leopard print, Pokemon to Ecstatic Disco!

Imagination Train was produced by Fleet Arts and developed in partnership with artist Martin Paling (Arthur’s Here and There Railways) and Cromford Mills with funding support from Derbyshire Makes and Derwent Valley Line. Train worlds were created by the general public in response to a call out, as well as participants in workshops at Cromford Mills Derbyshire Makes Festival, The National Stone Centre, Wild Roots Creative, Table Top Events and Fleet Arts Co-create Space.

It has been a great project with some brilliant community engagement. Thanks again for funding it Derbyshire Makes!