Nick Davies

Adrian Henri – Early Happenings in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s (working title)

Nick is an artist and independent curator living in Rhyl, North Wales. He began his collaborative PhD in October 2024. He often makes artworks to try and make sense of the world with a belief that art can help level the playing field, if only for a moment.

Usually driven by concepts, Nick’s output takes on differing forms such as sculpting using Tipp-Ex and documenting whitewashed empty shop windows across the United Kingdom. He mostly practices alone but also works with other artists and creatives on curated and published work through Loophole Projects.

Through this collaborative doctorate, Nick will focus on the work of Adrian Henri, the Liverpool-based poet and painter who played a pioneering role in bringing happenings to Britain. Henri’s poetry made significant cultural impact through the publication of the groundbreaking anthology The Mersey Sound (1967), showcasing his work together with Roger McGough and Brian Patten. Performance was key to Henri’s practice and he collaborated with musicians across different fields of music. This doctoral project seeks to contextualise and develop new insights into Henri’s practice, with particular focus on his development of happenings in the United Kingdom. A key focus will be around how this area of Henri’s practice, situated in the 1960s, can be presented in a contemporary context.

Supervisors

Dr Marion Leonard, Prof. Deryn Rees-Jones, Helen Legg (Tate Liverpool), and Dr Leanne Green (Tate Liverpool)

Nick Davies

Supervisors

Website