Documentation of the Wide Open Space project
Date uploaded: February 20, 2012
Documentation of the Wide Open Space project
The Wide Open Space project finished in 2011, but has been recorded and documented on the ruralrecreation website.
Wide Open Space was an initiative of the Dorset Design and Heritage Forum, curated by Alex Murdin in association with Willis Newson and supported by funding from Arts Council England and Dorset County Council. Wide Open Space aimed to develop a programme of strategic public art projects at the forefront of a new rural cultural agenda. Artists involved included Michael Pinsky, London Fieldworks, Anna Best, Simon Pirie and ZMMA architects. Wide Open Space developed a programme of strategic public art projects which intended to place Dorset at the forefront of a new rural cultural agenda. These projects added to existing evidence that art, craft and design contribute to making a better environment, creating sustainable communities, enhancing local distinctiveness and adding to our overall wellbeing.
The ruralrecreation website features presentations and information generated from the Wide Open Space process, using the four commissioned projects as examples of what is possible and providing practical advice on commissioning artists. The website also includes information on two conferences organised by the Dorset Design and Heritage Forum in 2011. The conferences emphasised the ongoing need for adventurous partnerships which create spaces and places that allow for what is different, sublime and unexpected. The website is designed to assist commissioners (in particular those working in rural areas) to think around the contemporary issues associated with commissioning for public space.
For more information about the Wide Open Space project, click here
