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Over the coming period, Morley is interested in examining, amplifying and making visible the often hidden processes, support structures, labor’s and intersections of ‘hard and soft work’* within the walls of Kunsthal Gent. Thinking through tools of maintenance, ‘build up’ and induction processes of the organisation, Morley’s research seeks to reflect upon how spaces like Kunsthal Gent can render visible and articulate these often overlooked processes of exhibition-making.

*Hard Work, Soft work is an ongoing research methodology reframing the intersectional conditions of hard skills and soft skills within making and building processes.

Harriet Morley’s practice, while focusing on the gender and labour politics of technical skill development within Art, Design and Architecture, ties itself intrinsically together by looking at the working conditions of cultural and technical practitioners. The current iteration of this ongoing research titled, ‘Hard Work, Soft Work’, not only explores “Hard Work” referring to the “hard” technical skills both taught and exchanged during these processes of learning but also thinks about “Soft Work”, referring to the often less valued, less acknowledged and rarely seen “soft” skills of communication, organisation, mediation and solidarity– skills that are proven integral to working collectively.

Since graduating with her BA in 2016 from the Glasgow School of Art and her MA in the Netherlands, she has taken on projects that explore technical skill development, material knowledge, and collaborative practices. In the past, she has worked closely with different practitioners from the disciplines of architecture, craft, and design, as well as (more thought of) traditional trades such as blacksmithing. Most recently, she has undertaken residencies and projects at the Scottish Sculpture Workshop (UK), Loughborough University (UK), Hotel Maria Kapel (NL) and has guest taught MA’s and BA’s courses across the UK and Netherlands. Alongside artist and carpenter Olga Micińska, they are formalising ‘The Building Institute’, an initiative that supports women and queer folk in their professional development within the so-called blue-collar trades. From 2023 to 2025; she was also co-director of the artist organisation Platform BK. Morley was recently appointed Tech Fellow 2025 at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.

Coproduction: Scottish Sculpture Workshop

Harriet Morley

Harriet Rose Morley (b. 1994, UK; she/her) is a multi-disciplinary artist, builder, and educator based in the Netherlands. Currently, she is researching feminist collective working methodologies through the lens of technical and craft-based education and labour within the arts under the framework of ‘Hard Work, Soft Work’. Her maxim is to be ‘always under construction, always learning and unlearning’.

Recent exhibitions include I didn’t think it would turn out this way, P/////AKT, Amsterdam (2021), You’re Never Done, Glasgow International 2021, Glasgow, UK (2021), The Headquarters, PuntWG, NL (2022), UPS @ BAK (2023) and Fully Worktioning, The Balcony (2023). Since 2023 she is the Co-Director of Platform BK, The Netherlands.