Artist Spotlight with The Working Boys Club

From Grease and Gears to Gigs and Circus Rigs

We didn’t start out as artists, Adam kicked things off as a car mechanic, getting his hands dirty working everywhere from Gearboxes specialists to Mercedes dealerships. But music was always his first love—writing songs with his dad as a kid, to playing as a solo performer or in bands at weddings, pubs, and festivals. Now, from his home studio, he’s crafting soundscapes, composing music, and working with companies like the National Centre for Circus Arts.

Beyond music, Adam’s always been a maker, from whittling spoons to creating custom stomp boxes. That passion led him to study 3D Design at Plymouth University in his late 20s, where he focused on well-being through design. He then (and still does sometimes) worked for Tigerplay, a top-tier company creating high-end indoor playgrounds worldwide.

Jason, on the other hand, was an electrician before the arts pulled him in. He’s always had a love for tech, electronics, and software, which continues to influence his work today—whether playing with musical micro controllers or experimenting with interactive digital art. 

He was in his early 20s when he swapped out climbing a ladder on a building site for climbing a Chinese pole in the circus. He found himself in the world of contemporary circus. After training at the National Centre for Circus Arts and later bagging an MA in Contemporary Circus Practices from Stockholm University of the Arts, Jason has spent over a decade pushing the boundaries of what circus can be. He’s been the artistic director of Living Room Circus, and now the co-founder of the digital collective Formerly Known As, and is currently touring a piece called ‘How A Spiral Works’, under the name of Art For Rainy Days.

We Break, We Build: A Hands-On Experience in Resilience

Through the support and funding from Without Walls, our latest project, We Break, We Build, is an interactive installation that invites people to quite literally break something and build it back up again. Inspired by those little push puppets we all played with as kids, the piece is all about resilience -how we fall apart and put ourselves back together again, usually with the help of those around us.

It’s personal for us. Our mum’s journey through physical challenges has shown us first-hand what it means to rebuild, and that’s at the heart of this piece. We’re creating an experience where people can engage with breaking and rebuilding, reflecting the ups and downs of life in a way that’s playful, but also powerful.

The Nuts and Bolts

This wasn’t something we could just throw together overnight. We went through a proper trial-and-error process to figure out how to bring it to life. Away from the engineering, our biggest challenge was deciding what the object itself should be, we wanted something that wasn’t too abstract but also not too obvious. For this R&D we decided on a human figure standing tall with its fist raised in the air, a Super-Hero stance. Playing on the stereotype of what we all think a superhero should act like, we wanted our Hero to crumble into bits. The idea is maybe a bit too far on the obvious scale but it also felt like a solid symbol of resilience. 

For materials, we started with a foam shell—it’s lightweight, easy to carve and let us create fluid shapes. Inside, we built a metal skeleton, running wire through the tubes and connecting it to an electric winch. The final piece will have a fiberglass-coated shell, making it sturdier while keeping it lightweight. We’re also adding music, lights and an audible short story of someone’s run-in with resilience. The durational piece will also have a motion sensor which will trigger the winch, so when someone approaches, the figure rises as if by magic—symbolising how little support can lift someone up. 

Art With A Meaning

For us, this isn’t just about making something cool to look at. We want We Break, We Build to get people thinking and talking about resilience and mental health. We’ve teamed up with Jordan Cuthbert, a psychological wellbeing practitioner, to make sure the project isn’t just rooted in personal experience, but backed up by real research. Jordan’s insight from his NHS work helps us shape the piece in a way that’s accessible and relevant, particularly for people who might not usually engage with the arts.

Check out the video below to see some of the process and our thoughts on this Project.