Subterranean preparations

     

   

    underground,earth,solitary,mounds,hardwork,residue,shifting,
    temporary,surface,beneath,transformation,behaviour,avoidance,
    soil,annoyance,secrecy,territorial,corridors,ephemeral,moving,
    concealed,boundaries,curious,rural,discovering,humans,urban,
    grass,removal,concrete,absurd,natural,imitation,displacement,
    purity,boredom,materiality,animals,reveal,subterranean,remake,
    anonymous,reaction,disappearance,wild,control,relocating,
    excavation,remodelling,monotonous,architecture,Bearpit,time,
    encounter,relationships,ambiguity,readymades,collecting,
    accumulation,edgelands,collapse,nature,form,molehills,society,
    environment,order,selection,freedom,chaos,culture,change,
    connections,removing,underneath,organising,searching,rethink,
    ecosystems,precarious,routines,intervene,routes,force, matter,
    instability,disrupt,spatial,landscapes,minimalism,repetition,
    walking,digging,carrying,process,tunnels,transporting,isolation 

These thoughts and processes contribute towards my temporary installation called Subterranean which is part of Art in Bearpit in Bristol.
You will be able to encounter Subterranean on Saturday, 25th July 2015 between 8am and 8pm.

http://artinbearpit.com

January

                                                                                            The traffic noise amplified


Cider can on the floor                                                
Sirens in the distance
                                                                                           





blue tits chattering
                                                                                             pollarding-controlling.  
                                                                                             Shred the evidence
                                                                                       

                                                                                                       Blockpaving
                                                                                                       breezeblocks, pebbledash
                                                                                                       privet hedges
                                                                                                       Cover and hide - mark your space                                 Sparrows congregating



                                                      Cracks in the pavement, in the tarmac - widening.

                                      Let nature fill the gaps.
                                      Moss - vibrant green

painted bricks
crumbling stonework
flaking paint                                                                              

                                                                                        plastic, cans
                                                                                        and cardboard


2 blue barrels bobbing on the Avon

                                                                                             2 cormorants descending.




            See the 2 barrels again the following day - are they the same?

            black- headed gulls in the park - regular urban visitors
                                                      eating worms or scraps dropped by us.

Far out in the ocean sea (trip to St Kilda)

The archipelago of St Kilda lies 41 miles off the Outer Hebrides,

                                                                                                      taking 3 hours to get to.

Volcanic rock - granite

                          gabbro 

                          and dolerite erupts from the Atlantic ocean, creating the islands of 

                                                                                             

                                                                                                       Soay, Hirte, Boreray and Dun. 

The stacs resemble tower blocks - Canary 

                                                      Wharf far out in the ocean sea.

                                                                                              St Kilda 

 the highest cliff in the British Isles at 376 metres

                the highest sea stac - Stac an Armin at 191 metres

                               the world's largest colony of gannets - 60 000 pairs

                                                 Britain's largest and oldest colony of fulmars - 68 000 pairs

                                                              field mice grow twice as big as mainland mice

                                                                          wrens are bigger than their mainland relative

                                                                                  a flock of primitive sheep found nowhere else in             

                                                                                          the world - Soay sheep run wild but are  

                                                                                                  overseen by the St Kilda Soay Sheep    

                                                                                                         Project.

For thousands of years people lived on Hirte.

The last remaining 36 islanders were            evacuated        in 1930. 

                                        Their unique life no longer sustainable

In 1957 the islands were given to the National Trust. 

Since 1957 the Ministry of Defence has been present on the island. A radar tracking station was built and they provide power, water, transport and medical aid on the island.

The islands have the following designations - Scottish Natural Heritage, Natural Scenic Area, Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Area, World Heritage Site, Geological Review Site and Marine Consultation Area. 

Managed, controlled, protected, human.                     

                                                                                                  On the edge, natural and wild. 

                                                 

All things grey, green and concrete

Grey, green, artificial

Green, grey, natural

Lines

Squares

Circles

All things grey, green and concrete

In the making (part 1 and 2)

In the making (part 1) 

Have been reading "Making the Geologic Now - responses to material conditions of contemporary life" edited by Elizabeth Ellsworth and Jamie Kruse and came across these passages which describe my present work and thoughts well:

"Of course, geology continues to reference rocks, tectonics, and bare forces of our planet, including deep time. But it is taking up new associations as people struggle to understand and meet new unprecedented material realities of Earth and life on Earth."(p12)

In the making (part 1), 2013. Breeze blocks, particle board in plastic, Harris rocks, artificial leather, inkjet prints,  molehill soil, concrete, giclee prints, paint

"…we are not simply surrounded by the geologic. We do not simply observe it as a landscape or panorama. We inhabit the geologic. We live within it. This means that humans are always forced to come to terms with earth forces eventually."(p 25 and 26)

In the making (part 2), 2013. Breeze blocks, Harris rocks, peat, paint, inkjet prints, artificial leather, concrete, particle board, molehill soil

                                                        In the making (part 2) - detail

                                                                            

Nature and Culture

Ecotone 1. 2013. PVC artificial leather floating on loch in Harris

                                     

                                                     

Smit marks on Finsbay sheep



Nature and culture are entangled.

Creating ecotones. New areas with different compositions.

A contrast of actions, objects and environments ; places, materials and processes.

Architecture and the natural.

Manmade
Nature 

Anthropocene - an epoch in the making

Anthropocene2, giclee print


Anthro - human
cene - new

Where human activity exceeds natural processes in many ways.

What will the rocks of the human species look like? - influenced by concrete, farming, mining, pollution, habitat destruction.

                                       Have we entered the New Man epoch or is it an epoch in the making?

Natural, manmade.

Where does one begin and the other end?                                             No longer pure.

                                    Create mixtures, hybrids of nature and culture.

The natural, manmade, architectural, human activity, natural processes meet and collide.

Ecotones.                

 A transitional zone between 2 different ecosystems where 2 different patches meet that have different ecological composition.

Tension zones.             

Edge effects.

Dismantle traditional separations. Look at ways to conjoin nature and culture.

Anthropogenic fragmentation of landscapes.