My residency at Cove Park was fundamental in making Pacing the Void, an idea that had been bouncing around my head since I first visited Mount Stuart in 2017. Eve and I both had busy schedules juggling caring responsibilities and commissions and during the pandemic it increasingly seemed that these ideas would remain unresolved.

On receiving news that I had been awarded the RSA Residency award at Cove Park, I knew we could now bring the Mount Stuart Commission to life, allowing the precious time and space to write, and develop the choreography which would become the first site-responsive dance to be performed In Mount Stuart House. During my residency I also utilised a studio with a kiln and together Eve and I collaborated on a series of small sculptural ceramic works that were used in the performance. Cove Park was such a generous and generative space to be, meeting other residents and feeling supported by Cove Park team and The Royal Scottish Academy was on reflection, a truly a transformative experience for my practice.

- Rhona Warwick Paterson, September 2023