Jerwood Open Forest commissions launch
Date uploaded: September 12, 2014
Jerwood Charitable Foundation and Forestry Commission England have announced that two ambitious projects will be realised in two of England’s public forests, Alice Holt Forest in Surrey, and Kielder Water & Forest Park in Northumberland, in October. These new works, a sculpture and a multi-channel sound installation, explore art in the environment and what it has the potential to be. The commissions exemplify the ethos of the Jerwood Open Forest initiative, highlighting the scope of how contemporary visual artists engage with the environment today.
Semiconductor (Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt)
Semiconductor will unveil their first ever public sculpture at a carefully selected site at Alice Holt Forest in Surrey on the 22nd of October 2014.
The spherical piece is based on one year’s worth of measurements of the take up and loss of carbon dioxide from the forest trees collected from the top of a 28m high flux tower, located nearby in the research forest at Alice Holt. Their work considers scientific data as a means of understanding the environment, and explores the relationship between how science represents the physical world and how we experience it. Through a process of re-contextualising the data, it becomes abstract in form and meaning, talking on sculptural properties.
The work will be unveiled on the 22nd of October 2014, and will be open to the public for years to come.
Alice Holt Forest spans 850 hectares on the Surrey/Hampshire border within the South Downs National Park. Attracting almost half a million visitors per year, it is one of the most popular countryside recreation venues in the South East.
Chris Watson and Iain Pate - Hrafn: Conversations with Odin
Across three evenings in late October (the 24th, 25th and the 26th of October 2014), Chris Watson and Iain Pate will produce a multi-channel, spatialised, sound installation featuring the remarkable, and seldom witnessed, conversations of ravens returning to roost. Hrafn; Conversations with Odin will take place in Kielder Water & Forest Park in Northumberland.
The audience will be led at twilight on a short walk into the deepest part of the forest. Along the way their guides share ancient raven lore, the natural history of a talismanic creature, and the beginnings – and the future – of the forest they have entered. Participants settle down and, as darkness falls, they will hear the sounds of two thousand birds arriving in the canopy overhead to begin their conversations.
For more details click here or to book tickets click here.
Jerwood Open Forest is a new initiative in the Jerwood Visual Arts programme launched in 2013 by Jerwood Charitable Foundation and Forestry Commission England, with additional support from Arts Council England. Artists were invited to submit bold, broad-thinking proposals for two major £30,000 commissions to be realised anywhere within England’s Public Forest Estate, exploring the potential of forests as sites for art.
The selection panel of leading practitioners and project partners were; Michaela Crimmin, Co-director, Culture+Conflict; Dan Harvey, artist; Tania Kovats, artist; Shonagh Manson, Director, Jerwood Charitable Foundation; and Hayley Skipper, Curator of Arts Development, Forestry Commission England.
From a high response of strong and diverse proposals, five projects (Juan delGado, Adam James, Amanda Loomes, Chris Watson with Iain Pate, and artist duo Semiconductor – Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt) were selected for a six-month research and development period. The artists each received a £2,000 research and development fee and support from Jerwood Visual Arts and Forestry Commission England to expand on the concept of their proposal and explore potential sites. An exhibition at Jerwood Space, London, (15th January to the 23rd of February 2014) followed this research phase, and with additional support of public funding by the National Lottery through Arts Council England’s Grants for the arts programme, it was announced on 11th of February 2014 that two projects were selected to be fully commissioned.
Click here for more detials about the Jerwood Open Forest programme.
