Blood from Stone is a body of work produced by Justin Carter during a residency in Fineshade Wood... more Blood from Stone is a body of work produced by Justin Carter during a residency in Fineshade Wood, Northamptonshire. The work is inspired by the regional relationship between Oak and Ore. During an intensive research period the site was identified as an area of ancient industry - iron smelters having been fuelled by the abundance of wood fuel from Rockingham Forest. Transforming this relationship into the visual, Carter combined oak galls and tree bark with rust removed from dragline buckets used in local quarries. The resulting ink was used to create prints suggesting life forms or taxonomic specimens. This artefact formed part of the group exhibition 'Practicing Landscape: Land, Histories and Transformation', 25 January - 22 March 2020. This exhibition brings together the work of sixteen The Glasgow School of Art researchers, who are part of a research group called ‘Reading Landscape’. Artists include Nicky Bird, Susan Brind, Justin Carter, Alan Currall, Marianne Greated, Michail Mersinis, Christine McBride, Shauna McMullan, Lesley Punton, Frances Robertson, Ross Sinclair, Michael Stumpf, Amanda Thomson, Gina Wall and Hugh Watt. The Reading Landscape Research Group was initiated in June 2014 by Susan Brind (Reader in Contemporary Art: Practice & Events, Department of Sculpture & Enviromental Art) and Nicky Bird (School of Fine Art). The research group, based in GSA’s School of Fine Art (SoFA), provides a context for Fine Art practice and research interests through a programme of research seminars, and knowledge exchange in addition to practice-led research projects.
Re-framing Art Through Landscape - Practice, People and Place
This oral presentation explores the role of contemporary art practice in opening up the dynamic r... more This oral presentation explores the role of contemporary art practice in opening up the dynamic relationship between people and place. The specific landscape in question is Leigh Woods, a National Trust nature re-serve in Bristol registered with three different conservation designations (NNR, SAC and SSSI). The woods were once a place of pilgrimage for the Bristol School of landscape painters who sought inspiration from Nature. More recently it has become a venue for a series of contemporary art Commissions initiated by Trust New Art, aimed at developing new audiences for National Trust properties. This presentation focusses on a specific art project developed by the author, commissioned for Leigh Woods in 2013. ‘Autumn’ existed as a series of walking performances - the artist wearing a tailored country-style suit printed with camouflage pattern based on James William Mullers painting ‘Autumn’ from 1833. The route for each walk went from Leigh woods where the original painting was m...
This paper will discuss the lessons learned by an architect/educator and an artist/educator durin... more This paper will discuss the lessons learned by an architect/educator and an artist/educator during the design and facilitation of a five-day collaborative workshop held in Kosice, Slovakia in April 2007. This project was initiated by IC Culture Train and the British Council and managed by KOD architects (Bratislava). The brief we were given by KOD Architects was to design and facilitate a cross-disciplinary process involving post-graduate students from the fields of design, architecture, philosophy and art. The results of the workshop would later form the basis for the design and construction of a ‘Speaker’s Corner’ in Kosice. The brief for the ‘Speaker’s Corner’ was based on the presumption that the ‘Speaker’s Corner’ in Hyde Park, London would be a valuable addition to the public realm of Kosice, Slovakia. The workshop was set up to provide ideas for the form and function of that space.
Summarising comments assessing creativity in design: emerging themes for engineering an engineeri... more Summarising comments assessing creativity in design: emerging themes for engineering an engineering subject centre guide an engineering subject centre guide assessing creativity in design: emerging themes for engineering
I'm going to discuss three or four different projects which look at the issue of globalisation, p... more I'm going to discuss three or four different projects which look at the issue of globalisation, politics and art in relation to ecology. Obviously with the difficulty of the time limit to actually get into the work in a deeper way, I've tried to think of projects where specific political questions have come up-sometimes during the making of the work, or sometimes from the outset of a project. In fact, just to come back to Oliver's talk this morning, I particularly enjoyed his comment about having to sell a concept to people in order to get their cooperation. I think that's often the process of negotiation that I find myself in as an artist-to try and get something to happen, you have to negotiate with different people in different ways, and I guess make decisions along the way.
Wasteland Twinning hijacks the concept of ‘City Twinning’ and applies it to urban Wastelands in o... more Wasteland Twinning hijacks the concept of ‘City Twinning’ and applies it to urban Wastelands in order to generate a network for parallel research and action. By subverting the City Twinning concept that aims to parade a city’s more predictable cultural assets and shifting the focus to wastelands, new questions of value and function are raised. Wasteland Twinning aims to develop an understanding of the potential of these sites through transdisciplinary models of practice. Wasteland Twinning is led by independent artists and researchers, that offers the potential for cultural comparison to take place on a local and international scale – going beyond the obvious to examine often invisible perspectives on power relations, land use, urban development and ecology. Through engaged and critical approaches, we hope to uncover some of the peculiarities and commonalities of the wasteland sites. The project aspires to challenge urban land use policy and bring wastelands and their users to atten...
Better understanding and consideration of the unique needs of Scotland’s island communities in de... more Better understanding and consideration of the unique needs of Scotland’s island communities in decision making is central to the recently proposed Islands (Scotland) Bill. In this context, arts offer a powerful means through which the identities, geographies and cultural characteristics of island communities could be communicated. This project will explore how the forthcoming Bill will promote resilience on Scotland’s islands and the role of arts in the implementation of key legislative principles. The project will focus on North Uist and through a series of 3 workshops will engage the island’s artistic and wider community, and develop potential art-led strategies through which arts can play an important role in implementing key principles of the Bill. The overall objective is to develop the networks and working relationships between communities, artists, policy, law, and sustainability experts, and identify potential art-led strategies through which the arts can add value to the an...
Understanding Sustainability Through The Public Art Project. Each academic year environmental art... more Understanding Sustainability Through The Public Art Project. Each academic year environmental art students initiate and develop projects outwith the studio and gallery context, engaging with complex and challenging issues in relation to ‘audience’ and ‘place’. Although sustainability is in no way made explicit within the project brief, students often ‘bump into’ sustainability as they explore and fathom the multi-layered context of this live research environment. In doing so their work makes sustainability tangible. Using various case studies this paper will explore sustainability from an Environmental Art perspective. I will suggest that there is a need for students to take ownership of sustainability on their own terms for it to have authenticity and meaning. What can students teach us about the values of sustainability? And how might Fine Art practice differ from other disciplines in how it engages with and formulates sustainability? This paper relates to the following themes: Th...
Summarising comments assessing creativity in design: emerging themes for engineering an engineeri... more Summarising comments assessing creativity in design: emerging themes for engineering an engineering subject centre guide an engineering subject centre guide assessing creativity in design: emerging themes for engineering
Welcome to the Colloquium. This is the first event to take place between the Graduate Schools of ... more Welcome to the Colloquium. This is the first event to take place between the Graduate Schools of CCW (Camberwell, Chelsea & Wimbledon Colleges of Arts) and Glasgow School of Art. All speakers will be in London, but the event focuses on the audiences' responses at both venues. The geographer Kathryn Yusoff has posed a timely question. 'What knowledge becomes useful to us in a time of abrupt climate change? How can we creatively practice towards such uncertainty?' The day will explore how artists both practice, and practise in uncertainty. It focuses on how we might create and present artworks which investigate cultural (mis)understandings about biodiversity, landscape or site. This includes how audiences might engage with the actual artworks. Please take your seat by 10.00 so that we can go through housekeeping before linking up the venues.
Contribution to the off-site exhibition La Lune: Energy Producing Art curated by Allan Giddy (Dir... more Contribution to the off-site exhibition La Lune: Energy Producing Art curated by Allan Giddy (Director of ERIA). La Lune was a temporary outdoor sculpture exhibition which in part responded to the site at Long Reef Headland. It has been produced by Warringah Council in conjunction with the Environment Research Initiative for Art (ERIA) at the College of Fine Arts (COFA), University of New South Wales (UNSW). The exhibition follows on from Australia's first solar exhibition Desert Equinox, Held in Broken Hill in 2012. La Lune further explores the idea of energy in art, expanding from purely solar, to energy as it occurs and exchanges in various other ways and forms. My own contribution was a series of high-viz runners T-shirts complete with reflective motivational slogans on front and back. These garments were gifted to local runners if they agreed to wear them whilst running a specific route through the sculpture exhibition. The audience for the work included those who wore the ...
Environment] should on no account be confused with the concept of nature. For the world can exist... more Environment] should on no account be confused with the concept of nature. For the world can exist as nature only for a being that does not belong there, and that can look upon it, in the manner of the detached scientist, from such a safe distance that it is easy to connive in the illusion that it is unaffected by his presence. Thus the distinction between environment and nature corresponds to the difference in perspective between seeing ourselves as beings within a world and as beings without it.
This paper explores ideas of mobility and power using the case study Pedalpower for Bybrua, commi... more This paper explores ideas of mobility and power using the case study Pedalpower for Bybrua, commissioned for ‘Stavanger 2008’ (Capital of Culture). Three pedal-powered generators were made available to the community of Pedersgata - during daylight hours these devices were located in a number of public sites and situations - during nighttime, the stored energy was released as part of a pedestrian lighting system installed beneath the City Road Bridge ‘Bybrua’. This paper will focus on the only mobile generator; Bridgit – so called for it’s capacity to offer transit from one side of the bridge to the other. In an oil rich nation what would it mean to introduce more modest forms of energy production? How would the installation of a human powered lighting system change the way people perceived the underpass space? How might ‘human power’ change human behavior? What might the social, economic and environmental benefits be? This project demonstrates a number of practical interventions inspired by the critical writings of Ivan Illich and Henri Lefebvre. These sculptural devices allow the problems of contemporary mobility to be seen as generative opportunities – both in terms of dialogue and energy.
Using personal case studies from the last Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008 this paper will... more Using personal case studies from the last Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008 this paper will explore the way in which art works and artistic practice is framed as ‘research’ by the institution. What is the ‘fit’ between research and contemporary art practice and what is the impact of this framing device on the ‘shape’ of art? Using this information I will ask whether art practice and research can be successfully reconciled within the practice based PhD. If this is possible then what are the challenges and how can these be addressed?
This paper reflects on an art project developed by the author which was commissioned for the exhi... more This paper reflects on an art project developed by the author which was commissioned for the exhibition STILL LIFE/ecologies of perception in 2013 by Trust New Art . The artists brief was relatively open but demanded some kind of response to Leigh Woods where the work would be located. The Woods themselves are a National Trust nature reserve situated within walking distance of Bristol, but separated from the city by the imposing cliffs of the Avon Gorge.
The resultant work ‘Autumn’ (2013) existed in two related forms - as object and as action. The object took the form of a tailored country-style suit printed with a camouflage pattern based on W. J. Mullers painting ‘Autumn’ (1833). As action it manifested itself as a series of walks beginning in Leigh Woods where Muller’s work was painted, stretching to Bristol Museum in the city centre, where the original painting now hangs. During the exhibition period the artist regularly walked this route across urban/rural thresholds wearing the camouflage suit.
The whole project echoes something Tim Morton talks about in ‘Ecology Without Nature’ when he imagines an aesthetic practice that could link urban and rural perspectives. He stated that:
“Romantic ecology seeks a place away from the enervating, phantasmagoric illusions of city life, as well as the industry, dirt, and noise. Might one do something perverse and combine the fantasy thing of Romantic ecology – the resonant idea of place – with the thinking generated by critical consumerism and its ultimate paragon, the urban stroller, the De Quincy, the Baudelaire? It should not be impossible in principle, since nature is already the quintessence of kitsch. But it appears so. It is as if there is a critical discourse of the country, and a critical discourse of the city, to match the other ways in which the country and the city have been kept apart in poetics and ideology”. (p. 169 Morton)
This project then, asks whether a ‘sublime’ or ‘romantic’ experience necessarily precludes new ways of relating and responding to landscape.
Wasteland Twinning is an ongoing International research network exploring the identity, value and... more Wasteland Twinning is an ongoing International research network exploring the identity, value and current potential of Inner-City Wasteland sites located around the World. Experimental research activity is coordinated, communicated and documented through the website http://wasteland-twinning.net/ Wasteland Twinning hijacks the concept of ‘City Twinning’ and applies it to urban Wastelands in order to generate a network for parallel research and action. By subverting the ‘City Twinning’ concept and shifting the focus to wastelands, new questions of value and function are raised. Wasteland Twinning aims to develop a deeper understanding of these sites through trans-disciplinary models of practice. Wasteland Twinning is led by a growing number of independent artists and practice based researchers, allowing cultural comparison to take place on a local and International scale. Through engaged and critical approaches, WT attempts to uncover some of the peculiarities and commonalities of various wasteland sites around the Globe, observed and explored since 2010. The overall project aspires to share methodologies, transfer knowledge and challenge urban land use policy by bringing wasteland sites into more critical and creative focus.
Blood from Stone is a body of work produced by Justin Carter during a residency in Fineshade Wood... more Blood from Stone is a body of work produced by Justin Carter during a residency in Fineshade Wood, Northamptonshire. The work is inspired by the regional relationship between Oak and Ore. During an intensive research period the site was identified as an area of ancient industry - iron smelters having been fuelled by the abundance of wood fuel from Rockingham Forest. Transforming this relationship into the visual, Carter combined oak galls and tree bark with rust removed from dragline buckets used in local quarries. The resulting ink was used to create prints suggesting life forms or taxonomic specimens. This artefact formed part of the group exhibition 'Practicing Landscape: Land, Histories and Transformation', 25 January - 22 March 2020. This exhibition brings together the work of sixteen The Glasgow School of Art researchers, who are part of a research group called ‘Reading Landscape’. Artists include Nicky Bird, Susan Brind, Justin Carter, Alan Currall, Marianne Greated, Michail Mersinis, Christine McBride, Shauna McMullan, Lesley Punton, Frances Robertson, Ross Sinclair, Michael Stumpf, Amanda Thomson, Gina Wall and Hugh Watt. The Reading Landscape Research Group was initiated in June 2014 by Susan Brind (Reader in Contemporary Art: Practice & Events, Department of Sculpture & Enviromental Art) and Nicky Bird (School of Fine Art). The research group, based in GSA’s School of Fine Art (SoFA), provides a context for Fine Art practice and research interests through a programme of research seminars, and knowledge exchange in addition to practice-led research projects.
Re-framing Art Through Landscape - Practice, People and Place
This oral presentation explores the role of contemporary art practice in opening up the dynamic r... more This oral presentation explores the role of contemporary art practice in opening up the dynamic relationship between people and place. The specific landscape in question is Leigh Woods, a National Trust nature re-serve in Bristol registered with three different conservation designations (NNR, SAC and SSSI). The woods were once a place of pilgrimage for the Bristol School of landscape painters who sought inspiration from Nature. More recently it has become a venue for a series of contemporary art Commissions initiated by Trust New Art, aimed at developing new audiences for National Trust properties. This presentation focusses on a specific art project developed by the author, commissioned for Leigh Woods in 2013. ‘Autumn’ existed as a series of walking performances - the artist wearing a tailored country-style suit printed with camouflage pattern based on James William Mullers painting ‘Autumn’ from 1833. The route for each walk went from Leigh woods where the original painting was m...
This paper will discuss the lessons learned by an architect/educator and an artist/educator durin... more This paper will discuss the lessons learned by an architect/educator and an artist/educator during the design and facilitation of a five-day collaborative workshop held in Kosice, Slovakia in April 2007. This project was initiated by IC Culture Train and the British Council and managed by KOD architects (Bratislava). The brief we were given by KOD Architects was to design and facilitate a cross-disciplinary process involving post-graduate students from the fields of design, architecture, philosophy and art. The results of the workshop would later form the basis for the design and construction of a ‘Speaker’s Corner’ in Kosice. The brief for the ‘Speaker’s Corner’ was based on the presumption that the ‘Speaker’s Corner’ in Hyde Park, London would be a valuable addition to the public realm of Kosice, Slovakia. The workshop was set up to provide ideas for the form and function of that space.
Summarising comments assessing creativity in design: emerging themes for engineering an engineeri... more Summarising comments assessing creativity in design: emerging themes for engineering an engineering subject centre guide an engineering subject centre guide assessing creativity in design: emerging themes for engineering
I'm going to discuss three or four different projects which look at the issue of globalisation, p... more I'm going to discuss three or four different projects which look at the issue of globalisation, politics and art in relation to ecology. Obviously with the difficulty of the time limit to actually get into the work in a deeper way, I've tried to think of projects where specific political questions have come up-sometimes during the making of the work, or sometimes from the outset of a project. In fact, just to come back to Oliver's talk this morning, I particularly enjoyed his comment about having to sell a concept to people in order to get their cooperation. I think that's often the process of negotiation that I find myself in as an artist-to try and get something to happen, you have to negotiate with different people in different ways, and I guess make decisions along the way.
Wasteland Twinning hijacks the concept of ‘City Twinning’ and applies it to urban Wastelands in o... more Wasteland Twinning hijacks the concept of ‘City Twinning’ and applies it to urban Wastelands in order to generate a network for parallel research and action. By subverting the City Twinning concept that aims to parade a city’s more predictable cultural assets and shifting the focus to wastelands, new questions of value and function are raised. Wasteland Twinning aims to develop an understanding of the potential of these sites through transdisciplinary models of practice. Wasteland Twinning is led by independent artists and researchers, that offers the potential for cultural comparison to take place on a local and international scale – going beyond the obvious to examine often invisible perspectives on power relations, land use, urban development and ecology. Through engaged and critical approaches, we hope to uncover some of the peculiarities and commonalities of the wasteland sites. The project aspires to challenge urban land use policy and bring wastelands and their users to atten...
Better understanding and consideration of the unique needs of Scotland’s island communities in de... more Better understanding and consideration of the unique needs of Scotland’s island communities in decision making is central to the recently proposed Islands (Scotland) Bill. In this context, arts offer a powerful means through which the identities, geographies and cultural characteristics of island communities could be communicated. This project will explore how the forthcoming Bill will promote resilience on Scotland’s islands and the role of arts in the implementation of key legislative principles. The project will focus on North Uist and through a series of 3 workshops will engage the island’s artistic and wider community, and develop potential art-led strategies through which arts can play an important role in implementing key principles of the Bill. The overall objective is to develop the networks and working relationships between communities, artists, policy, law, and sustainability experts, and identify potential art-led strategies through which the arts can add value to the an...
Understanding Sustainability Through The Public Art Project. Each academic year environmental art... more Understanding Sustainability Through The Public Art Project. Each academic year environmental art students initiate and develop projects outwith the studio and gallery context, engaging with complex and challenging issues in relation to ‘audience’ and ‘place’. Although sustainability is in no way made explicit within the project brief, students often ‘bump into’ sustainability as they explore and fathom the multi-layered context of this live research environment. In doing so their work makes sustainability tangible. Using various case studies this paper will explore sustainability from an Environmental Art perspective. I will suggest that there is a need for students to take ownership of sustainability on their own terms for it to have authenticity and meaning. What can students teach us about the values of sustainability? And how might Fine Art practice differ from other disciplines in how it engages with and formulates sustainability? This paper relates to the following themes: Th...
Summarising comments assessing creativity in design: emerging themes for engineering an engineeri... more Summarising comments assessing creativity in design: emerging themes for engineering an engineering subject centre guide an engineering subject centre guide assessing creativity in design: emerging themes for engineering
Welcome to the Colloquium. This is the first event to take place between the Graduate Schools of ... more Welcome to the Colloquium. This is the first event to take place between the Graduate Schools of CCW (Camberwell, Chelsea & Wimbledon Colleges of Arts) and Glasgow School of Art. All speakers will be in London, but the event focuses on the audiences' responses at both venues. The geographer Kathryn Yusoff has posed a timely question. 'What knowledge becomes useful to us in a time of abrupt climate change? How can we creatively practice towards such uncertainty?' The day will explore how artists both practice, and practise in uncertainty. It focuses on how we might create and present artworks which investigate cultural (mis)understandings about biodiversity, landscape or site. This includes how audiences might engage with the actual artworks. Please take your seat by 10.00 so that we can go through housekeeping before linking up the venues.
Contribution to the off-site exhibition La Lune: Energy Producing Art curated by Allan Giddy (Dir... more Contribution to the off-site exhibition La Lune: Energy Producing Art curated by Allan Giddy (Director of ERIA). La Lune was a temporary outdoor sculpture exhibition which in part responded to the site at Long Reef Headland. It has been produced by Warringah Council in conjunction with the Environment Research Initiative for Art (ERIA) at the College of Fine Arts (COFA), University of New South Wales (UNSW). The exhibition follows on from Australia's first solar exhibition Desert Equinox, Held in Broken Hill in 2012. La Lune further explores the idea of energy in art, expanding from purely solar, to energy as it occurs and exchanges in various other ways and forms. My own contribution was a series of high-viz runners T-shirts complete with reflective motivational slogans on front and back. These garments were gifted to local runners if they agreed to wear them whilst running a specific route through the sculpture exhibition. The audience for the work included those who wore the ...
Environment] should on no account be confused with the concept of nature. For the world can exist... more Environment] should on no account be confused with the concept of nature. For the world can exist as nature only for a being that does not belong there, and that can look upon it, in the manner of the detached scientist, from such a safe distance that it is easy to connive in the illusion that it is unaffected by his presence. Thus the distinction between environment and nature corresponds to the difference in perspective between seeing ourselves as beings within a world and as beings without it.
This paper explores ideas of mobility and power using the case study Pedalpower for Bybrua, commi... more This paper explores ideas of mobility and power using the case study Pedalpower for Bybrua, commissioned for ‘Stavanger 2008’ (Capital of Culture). Three pedal-powered generators were made available to the community of Pedersgata - during daylight hours these devices were located in a number of public sites and situations - during nighttime, the stored energy was released as part of a pedestrian lighting system installed beneath the City Road Bridge ‘Bybrua’. This paper will focus on the only mobile generator; Bridgit – so called for it’s capacity to offer transit from one side of the bridge to the other. In an oil rich nation what would it mean to introduce more modest forms of energy production? How would the installation of a human powered lighting system change the way people perceived the underpass space? How might ‘human power’ change human behavior? What might the social, economic and environmental benefits be? This project demonstrates a number of practical interventions inspired by the critical writings of Ivan Illich and Henri Lefebvre. These sculptural devices allow the problems of contemporary mobility to be seen as generative opportunities – both in terms of dialogue and energy.
Using personal case studies from the last Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008 this paper will... more Using personal case studies from the last Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) 2008 this paper will explore the way in which art works and artistic practice is framed as ‘research’ by the institution. What is the ‘fit’ between research and contemporary art practice and what is the impact of this framing device on the ‘shape’ of art? Using this information I will ask whether art practice and research can be successfully reconciled within the practice based PhD. If this is possible then what are the challenges and how can these be addressed?
This paper reflects on an art project developed by the author which was commissioned for the exhi... more This paper reflects on an art project developed by the author which was commissioned for the exhibition STILL LIFE/ecologies of perception in 2013 by Trust New Art . The artists brief was relatively open but demanded some kind of response to Leigh Woods where the work would be located. The Woods themselves are a National Trust nature reserve situated within walking distance of Bristol, but separated from the city by the imposing cliffs of the Avon Gorge.
The resultant work ‘Autumn’ (2013) existed in two related forms - as object and as action. The object took the form of a tailored country-style suit printed with a camouflage pattern based on W. J. Mullers painting ‘Autumn’ (1833). As action it manifested itself as a series of walks beginning in Leigh Woods where Muller’s work was painted, stretching to Bristol Museum in the city centre, where the original painting now hangs. During the exhibition period the artist regularly walked this route across urban/rural thresholds wearing the camouflage suit.
The whole project echoes something Tim Morton talks about in ‘Ecology Without Nature’ when he imagines an aesthetic practice that could link urban and rural perspectives. He stated that:
“Romantic ecology seeks a place away from the enervating, phantasmagoric illusions of city life, as well as the industry, dirt, and noise. Might one do something perverse and combine the fantasy thing of Romantic ecology – the resonant idea of place – with the thinking generated by critical consumerism and its ultimate paragon, the urban stroller, the De Quincy, the Baudelaire? It should not be impossible in principle, since nature is already the quintessence of kitsch. But it appears so. It is as if there is a critical discourse of the country, and a critical discourse of the city, to match the other ways in which the country and the city have been kept apart in poetics and ideology”. (p. 169 Morton)
This project then, asks whether a ‘sublime’ or ‘romantic’ experience necessarily precludes new ways of relating and responding to landscape.
Wasteland Twinning is an ongoing International research network exploring the identity, value and... more Wasteland Twinning is an ongoing International research network exploring the identity, value and current potential of Inner-City Wasteland sites located around the World. Experimental research activity is coordinated, communicated and documented through the website http://wasteland-twinning.net/ Wasteland Twinning hijacks the concept of ‘City Twinning’ and applies it to urban Wastelands in order to generate a network for parallel research and action. By subverting the ‘City Twinning’ concept and shifting the focus to wastelands, new questions of value and function are raised. Wasteland Twinning aims to develop a deeper understanding of these sites through trans-disciplinary models of practice. Wasteland Twinning is led by a growing number of independent artists and practice based researchers, allowing cultural comparison to take place on a local and International scale. Through engaged and critical approaches, WT attempts to uncover some of the peculiarities and commonalities of various wasteland sites around the Globe, observed and explored since 2010. The overall project aspires to share methodologies, transfer knowledge and challenge urban land use policy by bringing wasteland sites into more critical and creative focus.
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Papers by Justin Carter
In an oil rich nation what would it mean to introduce more modest forms of energy production? How would the installation of a human powered lighting system change the way people perceived the underpass space? How might ‘human power’ change human behavior? What might the social, economic and environmental benefits be?
This project demonstrates a number of practical interventions inspired by the critical writings of Ivan Illich and Henri Lefebvre. These sculptural devices allow the problems of contemporary mobility to be seen as generative opportunities – both in terms of dialogue and energy.
The resultant work ‘Autumn’ (2013) existed in two related forms - as object and as action. The object took the form of a tailored country-style suit printed with a camouflage pattern based on W. J. Mullers painting ‘Autumn’ (1833). As action it manifested itself as a series of walks beginning in Leigh Woods where Muller’s work was painted, stretching to Bristol Museum in the city centre, where the original painting now hangs. During the exhibition period the artist regularly walked this route across urban/rural thresholds wearing the camouflage suit.
The whole project echoes something Tim Morton talks about in ‘Ecology Without Nature’ when he imagines an aesthetic practice that could link urban and rural perspectives. He stated that:
“Romantic ecology seeks a place away from the enervating, phantasmagoric illusions of city life, as well as the industry, dirt, and noise. Might one do something perverse and combine the fantasy thing of Romantic ecology – the resonant idea of place – with the thinking generated by critical consumerism and its ultimate paragon, the urban stroller, the De Quincy, the Baudelaire? It should not be impossible in principle, since nature is already the quintessence of kitsch. But it appears so. It is as if there is a critical discourse of the country, and a critical discourse of the city, to match the other ways in which the country and the city have been kept apart in poetics and ideology”. (p. 169 Morton)
This project then, asks whether a ‘sublime’ or ‘romantic’ experience necessarily precludes new ways of relating and responding to landscape.
Wasteland Twinning hijacks the concept of ‘City Twinning’ and applies it to urban Wastelands in order to generate a network for parallel research and action. By subverting the ‘City Twinning’ concept and shifting the focus to wastelands, new questions of value and function are raised. Wasteland Twinning aims to develop a deeper understanding of these sites through trans-disciplinary models of practice.
Wasteland Twinning is led by a growing number of independent artists and practice based researchers, allowing cultural comparison to take place on a local and International scale. Through engaged and critical approaches, WT attempts to uncover some of the peculiarities and commonalities of various wasteland sites around the Globe, observed and explored since 2010. The overall project aspires to share methodologies, transfer knowledge and challenge urban land use policy by bringing wasteland sites into more critical and creative focus.
In an oil rich nation what would it mean to introduce more modest forms of energy production? How would the installation of a human powered lighting system change the way people perceived the underpass space? How might ‘human power’ change human behavior? What might the social, economic and environmental benefits be?
This project demonstrates a number of practical interventions inspired by the critical writings of Ivan Illich and Henri Lefebvre. These sculptural devices allow the problems of contemporary mobility to be seen as generative opportunities – both in terms of dialogue and energy.
The resultant work ‘Autumn’ (2013) existed in two related forms - as object and as action. The object took the form of a tailored country-style suit printed with a camouflage pattern based on W. J. Mullers painting ‘Autumn’ (1833). As action it manifested itself as a series of walks beginning in Leigh Woods where Muller’s work was painted, stretching to Bristol Museum in the city centre, where the original painting now hangs. During the exhibition period the artist regularly walked this route across urban/rural thresholds wearing the camouflage suit.
The whole project echoes something Tim Morton talks about in ‘Ecology Without Nature’ when he imagines an aesthetic practice that could link urban and rural perspectives. He stated that:
“Romantic ecology seeks a place away from the enervating, phantasmagoric illusions of city life, as well as the industry, dirt, and noise. Might one do something perverse and combine the fantasy thing of Romantic ecology – the resonant idea of place – with the thinking generated by critical consumerism and its ultimate paragon, the urban stroller, the De Quincy, the Baudelaire? It should not be impossible in principle, since nature is already the quintessence of kitsch. But it appears so. It is as if there is a critical discourse of the country, and a critical discourse of the city, to match the other ways in which the country and the city have been kept apart in poetics and ideology”. (p. 169 Morton)
This project then, asks whether a ‘sublime’ or ‘romantic’ experience necessarily precludes new ways of relating and responding to landscape.
Wasteland Twinning hijacks the concept of ‘City Twinning’ and applies it to urban Wastelands in order to generate a network for parallel research and action. By subverting the ‘City Twinning’ concept and shifting the focus to wastelands, new questions of value and function are raised. Wasteland Twinning aims to develop a deeper understanding of these sites through trans-disciplinary models of practice.
Wasteland Twinning is led by a growing number of independent artists and practice based researchers, allowing cultural comparison to take place on a local and International scale. Through engaged and critical approaches, WT attempts to uncover some of the peculiarities and commonalities of various wasteland sites around the Globe, observed and explored since 2010. The overall project aspires to share methodologies, transfer knowledge and challenge urban land use policy by bringing wasteland sites into more critical and creative focus.