Jerwood Open Forest: Profiling Semiconductor
Date uploaded: October 28, 2013
Jerwood Open Forest: Semiconductor - the first profile of the five projects shortlisted for Jerwood Open Forest.
Matt Wilkinson, a climate change scientist at Forest Research recently hosted a visit with a difference at the 26m high Flux Tower in Alice Holt Forest. Artist duo Semiconductor (Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt) are the producers of one of the five shortlisted art projects in the inaugural Jerwood Open Forest.
Jerwood Open Forest is a new initiative in the Jerwood Visual Arts programme supported by Jerwood Charitable Foundation in partnership with Forestry Commission England.
Ruth and Joe normally use moving images and sound to explore and interpret the material nature of our world and how we experience and understand it. For Jerwood Open Forest they have proposed a sculptural work developed using the data Matt and his colleagues collect to measure carbon dioxide uptake by the forest as the basis for their project.
After climbing the tower and seeing the images taken by the automated camera systems mounted on the tower, Ruth and Joe are enthusiastic about the possibilities on offer. “Sounds are quite different when you are up in the forest canopy and this visit has given us so many ideas to explore”, said Ruth.
Jerwood Open Forest is a new initiative in the Jerwood Visual Arts programme supported by Jerwood Charitable Foundation in partnership with Forestry Commission England. From an exceptional response of strong and diverse proposals five projects have been selected for a six-month research and development period. Juan delGado, Adam James, Amanda Loomes, Semiconductor (Ruth Jarman and Joe Gerhardt) and collaborators Chris Watson with Iain Pate, have each received a £2,000 research and development fee to expand on the concept of their proposal and explore potential sites through this phase.
The research process will culminate in a curated exhibition at Jerwood Space, London in January 2014, where one project will be selected by the panel to receive a £30,000 commissioning budget to realise their proposal.
