Summer School Online Session 4
Photo: Earth Photo 2023
On April 11, 2024, we had our fourth summer school session. We were honoured to have scheduled two presentations about design recommendations:
- Approaches to Creative Responses in the Landscape by Hazel Stone (Forestry England)
- Placemaking and Audience by Johana Knowles (Forestry England)
The format consisted of a 25-minute presentation by Hazel Stone followed by a 5-minute Q&A. Then there was a 30-minute group discussion led by Hazel Stone and Peter Batchelor about examples of multi-artist exhibitions as well as the potential location of the installations for the forthcoming artistic intervention at the Alice Holt forest on June 20, 2024. The second presentation by Johana Knowles was delivered asynchronously after this session. You can find below the two video recordings of the presentations and a summary of the group discussion. Thanks to both Hazel and Johana for sharing their knowledge with us and to Hazel and Pete for leading the group discussion.
Approaches to Creative Responses in the Landscape by Hazel Stone (Forestry England)
In this presentation, Hazel Stone gives an overview of approaches to creative responses in the landscape. The presentation introduces the beginning of the arts programme in 1968 for Forestry England, then provides a range of approaches that can be considered, and then leads to a discussion on how to engage with different audiences on contemporary art in the landscape. Hazel selects relevant work from the artists Richard Harris, David Nash, Alannah Robins, Greyworld, Birgit Oigus. Marshmallow Laser Feast, Steve Messam, Sally Matthews, Shona Branigan, Lorna Singleton, Rachel Whiteread, and Luke Jerram, among others. Concepts discussed include working with interdisciplinary teams, understanding the landscape as well as using materials from the landscape. Digging into relevant design considerations and a potential range of creative approaches can inform the Sensing the Forest Summer School and the related artistic intervention on the site where site, time and sound will play an important role.
The Q&A was hosted by Peter Batchelor. The questions touched on different topics. One was on what it means to intervene in a ‘working forest’. Hazel recognises that all forests are different, but after the war, a consequence in the UK was the lack of timber, and that is why the Forestry Commission was set up in 1919 to provide sustainable timber as a product for use. This means that recreation needs to be coordinated with planting and felling and that forests have different parts for timber, biodiversity, and so on.
Another question related to the long-term of some of the installations shown such as Richard Harris’ pieces. Hazel distinguishes early pieces from more current ones in terms of different processes in terms of risk assessment, methods of instalment and so on. Knowing the material and how it performs in the environment relates more to earlier pieces, whereas now there is a decommissioning process. At present, it is expected to consider the lifespan of the piece, how the piece will be decommissioned, and if there are creative ways for that, such as ‘returning to the forest’ or remembering the form at a certain stage. Hazel’s role is to work with the artist to meet the artist’s expectations as well as to look after safety.
A follow-up question was on the observation that most of the pieces are based on timber and whether this is a reductionist perspective of the forest. Hazel describes the beginning of the programme as a brief of the use of the materials of the forest. The organisation is rooted from a materials angle, so it is somehow a predominant aspect of making but it is moving to a broader way of engaging now.
Placemaking and Audience by Johana Knowles (Forestry England)
In this presentation, Johana Knowles presents core concepts related to audience and exhibition. In particular, Johana introduces user-led design strategies to design interactive experiences that can suit well in the Alice Holt Forest and other similar outdoor spaces. The presentation starts with several questions to consider related to user-led design such as who is your audience, how is the audience intended to interact with your work, where is your exhibition/performance space, what is the future potential for the work and what do you aim to communicate/evoke. It then follows the introduction of relevant work from six selected artists that align with illustration research: Leah Fusco, Kate Morrell, Laura Copsey, Luise Vormittag, David Lemm, and Alexandria Daisy Ginsberg’s Pollinator Pathmaker. These design considerations and inspirational visual artistic work can inform the Sensing the Forest Summer School and the related artistic intervention on the site.
Group discussion on multi-artist exhibition
The group discussion was hosted by Hazel Stone and Peter Batchelor. The brief was:
Share ideas on multi-artist exhibitions that could maybe inform the curating of the summer school exhibition as an outdoor experience to arts and non-arts audiences.
What are the different strategies for curating? The summer school participants brought different ideas to the table. For example, 5 women composers in Istanbul were invited to create 5 different compositions about the same location, to then make a final composition embedding the 5 perspectives, which is seen as a transformative experience for the composers.
Other examples are indoors, such as “Future Shock” at 180 Strand in London with a series of AV installations, including a Japanese artist working with digital scans of forests. However, more questions than answers emerge when trying to move this to the forest. Permanency is a term that permeates as part of the question and design considerations. Shall it be performative and only happen once? How remote and co-located will work? Hazel stresses that managing the audience experience and curating it is also relevant. Offering a live experience where the artists can talk about their work is really valuable. Prompting the audience, expecting a reaction from the audience, should be also considered: has something changed? What have they learned? Hazel reinforces that thinking about what curatorial structure we want to give is a key decision.
Another challenge raised by a summer school participant is how to make sure that everybody gets their sonic space. In the forest, is there going to be sonic separation? Hazel follows up mentioning that the term ‘sonic space’ and ‘sonic separation’ raises an expectation already. Another participant agrees saying that we should make sure that each installation has enough separation so they are not encroaching on one another. How will this work? Hazel connects these questions with forest planning and the potential synergies that can be explored.
In the last part of the session, Peter Batchelor shared a potential space for the installations, which connects with his blog post Second Field Trip to Alice Holt Forest. The region is relatively large, and in terms of isolation, we should consider that it will be the summer season with more foliage in the trees and dampening of sound. How much can we tolerate that bleed? Will the installations be compatible? Will this be an incentive to move from one installation to the next? The area is quite open with no restrictions on where to put things. There is a water stream as well. Many possibilities! Hazel confirms that the trees will be in leaf, which will change visually and acoustically from the photos taken in March-April.
A participant asks if there are any volume limitations. Hazel answers that for every event, they need to put a proposal that is checked across the different disciplines. Are there plants protected? Are there birds nesting? Forestry perspective, wildlife, and ecology need to be assessed for each new event to check for any impact and advice. Another participant wonders how far is the potential location from the customised data logger sensors. Peter replied that it is quite a distance (about 2 miles away). This discussion will be continued within the following sessions! Thanks all for your contributions!