When our unlikely support for contemporary art makes the news…

The mannequins were originally part of displays at the Museum but with the ravages of time they were broken, fell out of fashion and were no longer required. They were gifted to an artist and have recently re-emerged to form an acclaimed artwork. Artist Alex Margo Arden is known for her theatrical and research-based methods that probe both the creation and preservation of local histories.

The Museum’s mannequins were re-invented as the recent Royal Academy Schools graduate’s socially conscious sculpture, Accounts, 2025. Bound together by a tug-of-war rope, the work “no longer symbolizes the progress that the workers once represented.” Arden’s sculpture was among the works selected by the Arts Council Frieze Acquisitions Fund. The artist was also the winner of the inaugural Nicoletta Fiorucci Foundation Prize at Frieze London for her “By All Accounts” display, which was in the booth of edgy and trendy young London gallery Ginny on Frederick.

Commenting on their Instagram account our contractor, Out of the Blue Fabrications said, "We are so incredibly delighted to see this herd of mannequins we were able to re-home whilst working on a storage project at the National Motor Museum back in April 2024 has well and truly been saved from landfill! It's an eye watering moment for the team to see our sustainability scheme of repurposing museum and gallery waste in action. A huge congratulations to Alex Margo Arden (@olddrag on Instagram) for this immense achievement, they look fabulous!"

Commenting on Instagram the Arts Council Collection said, "We are excited to welcome 'Accounts' (2025) by Alex Margo Arden to the Arts Council Collection. 'Accounts' (2025) reclaims museum figures, once a symbol of industry, into an entangled and chaotic ensemble. Bound together from reclaimed rope, they become uncanny figures of a forgotten past, suspended between both humour and violence. Arden breathes a new life into these figures to explore how social histories are staged, collected, mythologised across museums, archives, and film sets, exposing where representation fractures and authority falters."

Ginny on Frederick is a former shop unit opposite Smithfield Meat Market in Clerkenwell, east London. The gallery space has become "an imaginarium for ambitious early-career artists."

Alex Margo Arden was born in Croydon and is based in London. Follow links to the Alex Margo Arden website and Instagram account on the RA website.