Mani Kambo x Zigzag Days
Contemporary Art Project
The Magna Project is excited to collaborate with local community group Zigzag Days and artist, Mani Kambo to create a new contemporary art installation in the landscape of Magna Roman Fort launching on 10th July 2026.
Through this initiative, local community members from Zigzag Days will collaborate with Mani, to reflect their thoughts, feelings, and experiences of this historic Roman landscape at Magna Roman Fort into a new temporary artwork.
In 2026, Zigzag Days will take part in artist-led workshops with Newcastle based multidisciplinary artist, Mani Kambo. Together, they will explore their relationship to the landscape at Magna Roman Fort and co-produce a contemporary artwork for the site.
This project is part of the ongoing Magna Project and builds on the success of Unearthing History (2025), where Zigzag Days participated in hands on workshops exploring the Vindolanda Trust’s pottery collection.
Working with Zigzag Days, who have engaged with the Vindolanda Trust on projects since 2021, continues to be a highlight of the Magna Project, celebrating creativity, community, and the landscape around Magna Roman Fort.
Mani Kambo was artist-in-residence at Magna Roman Fort during spring 2026. Mani’s residency is part of the Trust’s creative programme, The Land We Walk On.
Notes to Editors
Magna, a unique Roman fort on Hadrian’s Wall, under the care of the Vindolanda Trust, holds some of the keys to understanding the biggest questions about the people of the Roman frontier. Magna has it all and includes half a milecastle, part of Hadrian’s Wall, the Vallum ditch, a large town, rubbish dumps and pits, cemeteries and the fort itself. It’s the junction point between three Roman roads, the Military Way, the Stanegate and the Maiden Way. The site covers an area larger than Vindolanda and has the same preservation layers of organic remains and it is now under threat from climate change.
The Magna project is a five-year research project which commenced in 2023. It will examine three areas of the site, from north to south, building up a profile of the way the land has been used from ancient to modern times. It combines archaeological investigation with non-intrusive survey, and it builds and improves on the previous geoarchaeological investigation work that has taken place. The legacy of the project will be an informed management plan for Magna which provides the Vindolanda Trust with the knowledge that it requires to help preserve this irreplaceable landscape for years to come.
Zigzag Days, a Haltwhistle Partnership project, was launched in 2017 to support adults not in employment and at risk of suffering from social isolation – filling the gap between youth clubs and older people’s coffee mornings! Many Zigzag members face multiple challenges related to disability, mental health, or physical health. The group meets fortnightly for outings, activities, lunch and chat.
‘The Land We Walk On: art, archaeology and climate change’ is a new creative programme for the Vindolanda Trust. It brings researchers, archaeologists and curators together with artists to develop new temporary exhibitions and activities that use artistic practice to unlock the Trust’s collections and enliven its ongoing research.