As lead consulting artist, Aurelian worked with our users through a series of workshops with young people and staff to explore the amazing spirit of Pegasus. What emerged from these was the idea of Pegasus as the Magical Forest: a place that is full of surprise and where you catch glimpses of all the exciting things that are going on in the building. This concept has inspired all of the artwork commissions in the new building.
Garden installation
Emotional attachments to the old Pegasus building go back nearly 50 years, when Roy Copeman founded Oxford Youth Theatre and set up shop in the former school meals canteen on Magdalen Road. Aurelian Koch celebrates that connection between old and new. Containing some of the original features of the old studio building, his new sculpture takes pride of place in the garden – in exactly the same position as it was in the old building. At the second reunion of former and current OYT members last year memories were written on the walls of the old building just days before it was demolished. Some of those memories have been inscribed on the window panes of Aurelian’s piece – a lasting memory and important link between old and new.