Ilford Multiverse

Ilford Multiverse is a large-scale illustrated artwork commissioned by SPACE Studios for their headquarters in Ilford Town Centre. The project emerged from a participatory workshop hosted by Studio Gil in February 2023 at SPACE’s community outreach hub, The Room. Local residents of all ages were invited to collectively reimagine Ilford not only as it is today, but as it could be, blending everyday realities with imagination, play and speculation.

From this shared archive of ideas, four parallel worlds were developed: the Ilford Science Museum, the Video Game Universe, the Waterpark Universe, and the Junior Ilford National Art Club. Each universe was imagined as a fully formed realm with its own spatial logic, cultures and atmospheres, rooted in the geography and lived experience of Ilford.

These worlds coexist within a single composite drawing, a tapestry of interconnected yet distinct resilient futures. For Studio Gil, drawing operates as a tool for thinking, making and community storytelling, allowing collective imagination to become a tangible, celebratory public artwork embedded in place.