Dr Michele Allen | Independent Researcher (original) (raw)
Publications by Dr Michele Allen
Artists Newsletter, 2017
In 2017 I was one of ten artists who received a bursary from the Artists Information Company (A-N... more In 2017 I was one of ten artists who received a bursary from the Artists Information Company (A-N) to attend the preview of Documenta in Kassel. As an artist whose work frequently engages with issues around place and community I was especially interested in the curatorial agenda linking Athens and Kassel and went with a view to seeing work which embodied that relational or place based approach. This is the review I wrote for the A-N website thinking about some of those issues
Material Memory The Post - Industrial Landscape as a Site for Creative Practice Edited By Gwen Heeney (2017), 2017
This book brings together experts in the fields of art history, visual arts, music, cultural geog... more This book brings together experts in the fields of art history, visual arts, music, cultural geography, curatorial practice and landscape architecture to explore the role of material memory in the post-industrial landscape and the ways in which that landscape can act as a site for many forms of creative practice. It examines the role of material memory in the siting of public artworks and politically inspired installation art within the socio-economic post-industrial landscape. The post-industrial ruin as a place for innovation in the curatorial process is also investigated, as are social memory and the complexities of inscribing memory into places. A number of chapters focus on photography and its important role in recording memory as transformation, abandonment and erosion. Artists and musicians present personal case studies examining the siting of permanent and temporary artworks which can invoke memory of both culture and place. The land itself and its associated histories of post-industry are explored in artistic terms investigating dislocation, wasted spaces and extinction. Landscape architects and cultural geographers explore the aesthetic of the urban ruin, its natural and human ecologies and the re-wilding of urban spaces. The volume provokes discussion by a group of diverse experts on a very contemporary subject.
My contribution; Encounters with a Colliery Landscape
reflects on my photographic and video work A Low Bright Seam which was created in response to a series of colliery lagoons and spoil heaps in Newstead Nottinghamshire.
Documenting a one-day collaborative art event held on 5 May 2014, in Pimlico's largest housing es... more Documenting a one-day collaborative art event held on 5 May 2014, in Pimlico's largest housing estate. Featuring over 60 artists, led by artist and PhD researcher Lana Locke, supported by Chelsea, Camberwell and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts. The publication features my work 'Trees Not Tarmac; Stories from the M65' a slideshow and collection of artefacts and memories reflecting experiences of the No M65 road protest.
NY Arts Magazine, Sep 2010
Papers by Dr Michele Allen
Reading Contemporary Performance, 2015
A series of 5 AHRC funded events providing collaborative training for PhD researchers. This proje... more A series of 5 AHRC funded events providing collaborative training for PhD researchers. This project offered a much needed opportunity for post-graduate researchers to acquire a sound understanding of a broad range of archival practices and resources from the perspective of art and design research and in(ter)ventions in the public domain. The project was a joint collaboration between Interface (University of Ulster), Locus+ (Newcastle) and the University of Sunderland.Investigating Archives (Linenhall Library, Belfast) - 25 November 2006, Interacting with the Archive - Creative Approaches (The National Glass Centre, Sunderland) - 22 March 2007, Per-Forming The Archive (The Culture Lab, Newcastle) - 28 March 2007, Facilitating The Archive (University of Ulster, Belfast) - 27 February 2007, Consensus Contention (University of Ulster, Golden Thread Gallery and Catalyst Arts, Belfast) - 22/23 June 2007
Community Development Journal, 2020
The walking interview is used to explore the lived experiences and meanings individuals attach to... more The walking interview is used to explore the lived experiences and meanings individuals attach to place(s). Despite scholarly interest in place and volunteering, attention to the walking interview is lacking. This article presents an exploratory study, which invited five volunteers to participate in a walking interview. Our aim is to discuss the walking interview to expand the range of methodologies employed in research on volunteering, particularly volunteering and place. The walking interview has novel implications for the conceptualization of volunteers and for the meanings individuals identify in their volunteer experience(s). Volunteers can be conceptualized as mobile subjects to explore the implications of physiological movement in place for the volunteer experience. Walking can unearth the significance of emotions and memories to volunteers’ negotiation of the ‘everyday politics’ of volunteering. The mobility of people and objects in sites of volunteering are salient as they ...
Visual Intersections III Research Conference Durham University, 2018
I will discuss the results of my recent Leverhulme trust artists residency hosted by the Northumb... more I will discuss the results of my recent Leverhulme trust artists residency hosted by the Northumbria University in which I collaborated with social scientist Dr Siobhan Daly on a project exploring the legacy of philanthropy in North East England. The project developed over the course of nine months and involved a layered collaborative approach to research, which included photography, oral history interviews, video work and walking seminars with artists academics and community volunteers. The project led to the creation of a handmade book and short film 'From Kindness' made in collaboration with the volunteer book repair group based at the Literary and Philosophical Society Newcastle, and an exhibition of photographs and archival materials in the library of the Natural History Society of Northumbria. From the outset my work responded to Siobhan's writing on philanthropy as a contested concept and related discussions around on its changing definitions. Alongside this theoretical work we identified numerous sites, archives, organisations and community groups whose work either had historic philanthropic connections or could currently be thought of as philanthropic in nature. In this paper I will discuss the development of this collaborative process and the layered quality of our research, particularly focusing on how the interplay between theory, visual research and practical work with community groups shaped the overall project. In so doing I hope to share the potential for visual research to provide an insight into theoretical writing and to discuss the possibilities for creative work as an alternate means of disseminating academic ideas.
Keywords: Interdisciplinary practice, photography, collaboration, public collections, practice led visual research.
I plan to talk about my photographic and video work titled 'A Low Bright Seam' which I developed ... more I plan to talk about my photographic and video work titled 'A Low Bright Seam' which I developed in response to a landscape of spoil heaps and colliery lagoons near Newstead in Nottinghamshire, which are now being developed as a country park. Between 2012-2013 I worked on a heritage lottery project related to the site exploring the history of mining in the area working with people from the nearby villages of Newstead and Annesley. (Please see the project website http://www.newsteadandannesleyheritageproject.co.uk/) I will discuss how this work then informed the development of my own photographic and video work which sets out to consider the lagoons landscape in relation to the vast underground spaces of the collieries it once served. The film I produced included footage of the lagoons system layered with audio recorded on location and interviews with former miners describing the working conditions underground. I will discuss how this work set out to represent the pit workings as places (not just spaces) which now exist largely in memory and also why I feel it is important to think about these lost environments which covered so much of Britain but were largely unknown to anyone outside of the industry. Biography I am a photographic artist and researcher based in North East England. My artistic and academic work is broadly concerned with sense of place, and is often created in response to specific locations. My art practice incorporates documentary, video and oral history often involving some degree of collaboration with communities in its production, and has been exhibited in gallery spaces, site-specific installations and community settings. I am interested in revealing hidden histories, or unfamiliar views of places and I'm fascinated by the variety of different perspectives that can exist in connection to any given place or situation. My doctoral research explored the history
Landscape Wilderness and the Wild University of Newcastle Conference Proceedings., 2015
I plan to discuss representations of the landscape in connection to coal mining and former mining... more I plan to discuss representations of the landscape in connection to coal mining and former mining communities. I will draw on my own photographic work in Peterlee ( county Durham) and Newstead (Nottinghamshire) and my experience of working on community arts and heritage projects in these areas. My interest in rural representation connected to mining has emerged out of my PhD research which focused on Peterlee and the wider coalfields context. During this research I became interested in the duality of mining – a heavy industry existing in a rural environment, which leaves little trace on the landscape surface. The collieries occupied extensive areas underground – often vastly exceeding the villages and pit yards above. Since the decline of deep mining in the UK almost all of these spaces have been abandoned and now exist in memory and fragmentary photos, stories and of course the extensive maps and plans held by the coal board. I have become more aware of these spaces during my work in Newstead where I have begun to collect maps and photographs of work underground. I’m intrigued by these lost spaces existing as memory and fragment and the parallels with the remnants above ground, which are being redeveloped or reclaimed by nature.
Pits are/ were places – they had their own language, culture, topography and the hidden nature of them means their absence goes unnoticed by those not directly involved in mining. Arguably this life underground also shaped mining communities interactions with the landscape above as can be seen in the gardening traditions, and outdoor pursuits such as fishing and bird watching found in colliery villages. I hope to explore some of these issues by looking at documentary images made by organisations such as Amber-Side and images taken from sources such as social media, blog sites and community projects I have worked on.
This is in many ways an emerging interest in my own practice at the moment and I expect to pose as many questions as I have answers to. However, I hope this might provide an interesting topic especially since I feel that mining is not often included in the discussion of rural experience. Arguably this omission is a result of some of the aspects of culture which the conference seeks to explore namely the Romantic representation of rural environments as a refuge from the urban/ industrial experiences.
Synopsis I plan to talk about a series of photographs and sound installations centred on Victor ... more Synopsis
I plan to talk about a series of photographs and sound installations centred on Victor Pasmore’s Apollo pavilion, a large modernist concrete sculpture which sits amongst houses in Peterlee. My work, explores residents interactions with the pavilion and wider modernist environment, reflecting on Pasmores concept of a ‘total environment’ fusing Art and Architecture. This work, in turn, has been informed by my involvement in the Peterlee project, which was originally set up by Stuart Brisley as part of an Artists placement in 1978, and then revived, by Tim Brennan and Stuart Brisley in 2004. This project looked at history within living memory of the Newtown and to a great extent my perception of place was shaped by working with oral history recordings produced as part of the original project in the 1970’s. I will look at the various levels of ‘return’ contained in my work in Peterlee and consider the ways in which I have explored my own creative interests through collaboration and engagement with these two artistic projects of the past.
Designated Sites of Tranquillity I will talk about the project ‘Designated Sites of Tranquillity... more Designated Sites of Tranquillity
I will talk about the project ‘Designated Sites of Tranquillity’ which responds to research into people’s perceptions of tranquillity in the countryside conducted by the geography dept at the University of Northumbria. The research drew on interviews with countryside users which were analysed statistically to produce maps of Northumberland and county Durham. The idea of silence, natural sound, and the absence of noise was key to the mapping process.
I have produced a series of photographs, sound recordings and a short film in response to this research and the locations identified as tranquil. I am particularly interested in the relationship between experience and representation, for example photographing something which is partly defined by its sound, and the contradictions of using an objective mapping process to explore a subjective idea. I see this as relating to wider interests I have in subjective forms of documentary practice.
To View the film 'Peaceful stream, quiet hill' whcih was made from cinefilm found in a tranquil location visit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcFpA76kyzY
exhibitions/ photography by Dr Michele Allen
Information on my two exhibitions at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art 2016.
In Public and Private Michele Allen presents a series of photographs, texts and a video work prod... more In Public and Private Michele Allen presents a series of photographs, texts and a video work produced as a result of a four-month residency at Durham Castle. The works respond to the castle's history as a site of government and latterly as home to Durham University's 'University College', known as the founding college as in 1832 it marked the inception of the first University in the North of England. The exhibition features three different but related bodies of work drawing on photographic and archival research related to the Castle and installed within its existing collections and architecture. The work is deliberately open-ended, allowing it to form a dialogue with the castle as a context and to frame broader questions about the relationship of the heritage site to the region it once governed.
So much of our experience of architecture is not the result of a first-hand encounter, but is the... more So much of our experience of architecture is not the result of a first-hand encounter, but is the consequence of a photographic image. Photography does not merely facilitate our experience of architecture, it arguably constructs that experience – much of what we see has been decided by the photographer.
In Place of Architecture brought together a group of contemporary artists to explore the role that photography and moving image play in our interpretation, perception and understanding of the architectural environment. Artists included:
» Peter Ainsworth » Michele Allen » Emily Andersen » Peter Bobby » Tim Daly » Charlotte Fox » Fergus Heron » Esther Johnson » Andy Lock » Fiona Maclaren (view in IE) » Guy Moreton » Martin Newth » Emily Richardson
A programme of events and activities was also curated to compliment the themes highlighted by the exhibition.
Some information on work from the series While Reason Sleeps exhibited as part of the Late Shows ... more Some information on work from the series While Reason Sleeps exhibited as part of the Late Shows at the Hatton Gallery linking up with the wider reappraisal of Victor Pasmore's involvement the the basic design course at Newcastle University in the 1960s.
A short exhibition text and selection of related images from my work A Low Bright Seam, which was... more A short exhibition text and selection of related images from my work A Low Bright Seam, which was exhibited as part of the conference Material Memory; The post industrial landscape as a site for creative practice. University of Newcastle November 2014. I have subsequently written a book chapter for the related publication of the same name published by Cambridge Scholars in 2017, a link is included here.
'The kerb is fascinating, maybe it’s the height, we spend twenty minutes shuffling up and down in... more 'The kerb is fascinating, maybe it’s the height, we spend twenty minutes shuffling up and down in the sun, pulling at the fine blades of grass which grow between the cracks. Picking up stones. Eventually we move on to a grassy mound and climb up and down, investigating the plants growing around the base of a young rowan tree and in the long grass at the periphery of the car park. The boundaries between destination and point of arrival have yet to be learned and curiosity carries us across the tarmac like sprawling weeds. He falls asleep and we walk by the river.' Michele Allen
The photographic series Forgotten Fruit was produced over the course of a year whilst I was pregnant and my son was a small baby, documenting fruit growing in urban locations close to where I live. Initially I set out to document these places from a purely visual perspective and unusually for me the work didn’t anyone else. After a year I had created a large collection of images, revisiting trees or particular locations as the seasons changed, the theme if there was one was perhaps an anxiety about where our food comes from and how we might survive on what is to hand. As time moved on and I gained distance from the work I found it hard to separate my perception of it from the experience of motherhood and began to feel that this close inspection of the world on my doorstep reflected something of the shifting perspectives and experiences of place I had encountered as a new parent.
With this in mind I approached a new mother and asked her to create maps of her daily walks and routines, these maps made using the application ‘map my walk’ will be exhibited alongside my photographs as short video animations. I also plan to run a foraging walk in Washington during the course of the exhibition.
"""
Artists Newsletter, 2017
In 2017 I was one of ten artists who received a bursary from the Artists Information Company (A-N... more In 2017 I was one of ten artists who received a bursary from the Artists Information Company (A-N) to attend the preview of Documenta in Kassel. As an artist whose work frequently engages with issues around place and community I was especially interested in the curatorial agenda linking Athens and Kassel and went with a view to seeing work which embodied that relational or place based approach. This is the review I wrote for the A-N website thinking about some of those issues
Material Memory The Post - Industrial Landscape as a Site for Creative Practice Edited By Gwen Heeney (2017), 2017
This book brings together experts in the fields of art history, visual arts, music, cultural geog... more This book brings together experts in the fields of art history, visual arts, music, cultural geography, curatorial practice and landscape architecture to explore the role of material memory in the post-industrial landscape and the ways in which that landscape can act as a site for many forms of creative practice. It examines the role of material memory in the siting of public artworks and politically inspired installation art within the socio-economic post-industrial landscape. The post-industrial ruin as a place for innovation in the curatorial process is also investigated, as are social memory and the complexities of inscribing memory into places. A number of chapters focus on photography and its important role in recording memory as transformation, abandonment and erosion. Artists and musicians present personal case studies examining the siting of permanent and temporary artworks which can invoke memory of both culture and place. The land itself and its associated histories of post-industry are explored in artistic terms investigating dislocation, wasted spaces and extinction. Landscape architects and cultural geographers explore the aesthetic of the urban ruin, its natural and human ecologies and the re-wilding of urban spaces. The volume provokes discussion by a group of diverse experts on a very contemporary subject.
My contribution; Encounters with a Colliery Landscape
reflects on my photographic and video work A Low Bright Seam which was created in response to a series of colliery lagoons and spoil heaps in Newstead Nottinghamshire.
Documenting a one-day collaborative art event held on 5 May 2014, in Pimlico's largest housing es... more Documenting a one-day collaborative art event held on 5 May 2014, in Pimlico's largest housing estate. Featuring over 60 artists, led by artist and PhD researcher Lana Locke, supported by Chelsea, Camberwell and Wimbledon Colleges of Arts. The publication features my work 'Trees Not Tarmac; Stories from the M65' a slideshow and collection of artefacts and memories reflecting experiences of the No M65 road protest.
NY Arts Magazine, Sep 2010
Reading Contemporary Performance, 2015
A series of 5 AHRC funded events providing collaborative training for PhD researchers. This proje... more A series of 5 AHRC funded events providing collaborative training for PhD researchers. This project offered a much needed opportunity for post-graduate researchers to acquire a sound understanding of a broad range of archival practices and resources from the perspective of art and design research and in(ter)ventions in the public domain. The project was a joint collaboration between Interface (University of Ulster), Locus+ (Newcastle) and the University of Sunderland.Investigating Archives (Linenhall Library, Belfast) - 25 November 2006, Interacting with the Archive - Creative Approaches (The National Glass Centre, Sunderland) - 22 March 2007, Per-Forming The Archive (The Culture Lab, Newcastle) - 28 March 2007, Facilitating The Archive (University of Ulster, Belfast) - 27 February 2007, Consensus Contention (University of Ulster, Golden Thread Gallery and Catalyst Arts, Belfast) - 22/23 June 2007
Community Development Journal, 2020
The walking interview is used to explore the lived experiences and meanings individuals attach to... more The walking interview is used to explore the lived experiences and meanings individuals attach to place(s). Despite scholarly interest in place and volunteering, attention to the walking interview is lacking. This article presents an exploratory study, which invited five volunteers to participate in a walking interview. Our aim is to discuss the walking interview to expand the range of methodologies employed in research on volunteering, particularly volunteering and place. The walking interview has novel implications for the conceptualization of volunteers and for the meanings individuals identify in their volunteer experience(s). Volunteers can be conceptualized as mobile subjects to explore the implications of physiological movement in place for the volunteer experience. Walking can unearth the significance of emotions and memories to volunteers’ negotiation of the ‘everyday politics’ of volunteering. The mobility of people and objects in sites of volunteering are salient as they ...
Visual Intersections III Research Conference Durham University, 2018
I will discuss the results of my recent Leverhulme trust artists residency hosted by the Northumb... more I will discuss the results of my recent Leverhulme trust artists residency hosted by the Northumbria University in which I collaborated with social scientist Dr Siobhan Daly on a project exploring the legacy of philanthropy in North East England. The project developed over the course of nine months and involved a layered collaborative approach to research, which included photography, oral history interviews, video work and walking seminars with artists academics and community volunteers. The project led to the creation of a handmade book and short film 'From Kindness' made in collaboration with the volunteer book repair group based at the Literary and Philosophical Society Newcastle, and an exhibition of photographs and archival materials in the library of the Natural History Society of Northumbria. From the outset my work responded to Siobhan's writing on philanthropy as a contested concept and related discussions around on its changing definitions. Alongside this theoretical work we identified numerous sites, archives, organisations and community groups whose work either had historic philanthropic connections or could currently be thought of as philanthropic in nature. In this paper I will discuss the development of this collaborative process and the layered quality of our research, particularly focusing on how the interplay between theory, visual research and practical work with community groups shaped the overall project. In so doing I hope to share the potential for visual research to provide an insight into theoretical writing and to discuss the possibilities for creative work as an alternate means of disseminating academic ideas.
Keywords: Interdisciplinary practice, photography, collaboration, public collections, practice led visual research.
I plan to talk about my photographic and video work titled 'A Low Bright Seam' which I developed ... more I plan to talk about my photographic and video work titled 'A Low Bright Seam' which I developed in response to a landscape of spoil heaps and colliery lagoons near Newstead in Nottinghamshire, which are now being developed as a country park. Between 2012-2013 I worked on a heritage lottery project related to the site exploring the history of mining in the area working with people from the nearby villages of Newstead and Annesley. (Please see the project website http://www.newsteadandannesleyheritageproject.co.uk/) I will discuss how this work then informed the development of my own photographic and video work which sets out to consider the lagoons landscape in relation to the vast underground spaces of the collieries it once served. The film I produced included footage of the lagoons system layered with audio recorded on location and interviews with former miners describing the working conditions underground. I will discuss how this work set out to represent the pit workings as places (not just spaces) which now exist largely in memory and also why I feel it is important to think about these lost environments which covered so much of Britain but were largely unknown to anyone outside of the industry. Biography I am a photographic artist and researcher based in North East England. My artistic and academic work is broadly concerned with sense of place, and is often created in response to specific locations. My art practice incorporates documentary, video and oral history often involving some degree of collaboration with communities in its production, and has been exhibited in gallery spaces, site-specific installations and community settings. I am interested in revealing hidden histories, or unfamiliar views of places and I'm fascinated by the variety of different perspectives that can exist in connection to any given place or situation. My doctoral research explored the history
Landscape Wilderness and the Wild University of Newcastle Conference Proceedings., 2015
I plan to discuss representations of the landscape in connection to coal mining and former mining... more I plan to discuss representations of the landscape in connection to coal mining and former mining communities. I will draw on my own photographic work in Peterlee ( county Durham) and Newstead (Nottinghamshire) and my experience of working on community arts and heritage projects in these areas. My interest in rural representation connected to mining has emerged out of my PhD research which focused on Peterlee and the wider coalfields context. During this research I became interested in the duality of mining – a heavy industry existing in a rural environment, which leaves little trace on the landscape surface. The collieries occupied extensive areas underground – often vastly exceeding the villages and pit yards above. Since the decline of deep mining in the UK almost all of these spaces have been abandoned and now exist in memory and fragmentary photos, stories and of course the extensive maps and plans held by the coal board. I have become more aware of these spaces during my work in Newstead where I have begun to collect maps and photographs of work underground. I’m intrigued by these lost spaces existing as memory and fragment and the parallels with the remnants above ground, which are being redeveloped or reclaimed by nature.
Pits are/ were places – they had their own language, culture, topography and the hidden nature of them means their absence goes unnoticed by those not directly involved in mining. Arguably this life underground also shaped mining communities interactions with the landscape above as can be seen in the gardening traditions, and outdoor pursuits such as fishing and bird watching found in colliery villages. I hope to explore some of these issues by looking at documentary images made by organisations such as Amber-Side and images taken from sources such as social media, blog sites and community projects I have worked on.
This is in many ways an emerging interest in my own practice at the moment and I expect to pose as many questions as I have answers to. However, I hope this might provide an interesting topic especially since I feel that mining is not often included in the discussion of rural experience. Arguably this omission is a result of some of the aspects of culture which the conference seeks to explore namely the Romantic representation of rural environments as a refuge from the urban/ industrial experiences.
Synopsis I plan to talk about a series of photographs and sound installations centred on Victor ... more Synopsis
I plan to talk about a series of photographs and sound installations centred on Victor Pasmore’s Apollo pavilion, a large modernist concrete sculpture which sits amongst houses in Peterlee. My work, explores residents interactions with the pavilion and wider modernist environment, reflecting on Pasmores concept of a ‘total environment’ fusing Art and Architecture. This work, in turn, has been informed by my involvement in the Peterlee project, which was originally set up by Stuart Brisley as part of an Artists placement in 1978, and then revived, by Tim Brennan and Stuart Brisley in 2004. This project looked at history within living memory of the Newtown and to a great extent my perception of place was shaped by working with oral history recordings produced as part of the original project in the 1970’s. I will look at the various levels of ‘return’ contained in my work in Peterlee and consider the ways in which I have explored my own creative interests through collaboration and engagement with these two artistic projects of the past.
Designated Sites of Tranquillity I will talk about the project ‘Designated Sites of Tranquillity... more Designated Sites of Tranquillity
I will talk about the project ‘Designated Sites of Tranquillity’ which responds to research into people’s perceptions of tranquillity in the countryside conducted by the geography dept at the University of Northumbria. The research drew on interviews with countryside users which were analysed statistically to produce maps of Northumberland and county Durham. The idea of silence, natural sound, and the absence of noise was key to the mapping process.
I have produced a series of photographs, sound recordings and a short film in response to this research and the locations identified as tranquil. I am particularly interested in the relationship between experience and representation, for example photographing something which is partly defined by its sound, and the contradictions of using an objective mapping process to explore a subjective idea. I see this as relating to wider interests I have in subjective forms of documentary practice.
To View the film 'Peaceful stream, quiet hill' whcih was made from cinefilm found in a tranquil location visit. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcFpA76kyzY
Information on my two exhibitions at Northern Gallery for Contemporary Art 2016.
In Public and Private Michele Allen presents a series of photographs, texts and a video work prod... more In Public and Private Michele Allen presents a series of photographs, texts and a video work produced as a result of a four-month residency at Durham Castle. The works respond to the castle's history as a site of government and latterly as home to Durham University's 'University College', known as the founding college as in 1832 it marked the inception of the first University in the North of England. The exhibition features three different but related bodies of work drawing on photographic and archival research related to the Castle and installed within its existing collections and architecture. The work is deliberately open-ended, allowing it to form a dialogue with the castle as a context and to frame broader questions about the relationship of the heritage site to the region it once governed.
So much of our experience of architecture is not the result of a first-hand encounter, but is the... more So much of our experience of architecture is not the result of a first-hand encounter, but is the consequence of a photographic image. Photography does not merely facilitate our experience of architecture, it arguably constructs that experience – much of what we see has been decided by the photographer.
In Place of Architecture brought together a group of contemporary artists to explore the role that photography and moving image play in our interpretation, perception and understanding of the architectural environment. Artists included:
» Peter Ainsworth » Michele Allen » Emily Andersen » Peter Bobby » Tim Daly » Charlotte Fox » Fergus Heron » Esther Johnson » Andy Lock » Fiona Maclaren (view in IE) » Guy Moreton » Martin Newth » Emily Richardson
A programme of events and activities was also curated to compliment the themes highlighted by the exhibition.
Some information on work from the series While Reason Sleeps exhibited as part of the Late Shows ... more Some information on work from the series While Reason Sleeps exhibited as part of the Late Shows at the Hatton Gallery linking up with the wider reappraisal of Victor Pasmore's involvement the the basic design course at Newcastle University in the 1960s.
A short exhibition text and selection of related images from my work A Low Bright Seam, which was... more A short exhibition text and selection of related images from my work A Low Bright Seam, which was exhibited as part of the conference Material Memory; The post industrial landscape as a site for creative practice. University of Newcastle November 2014. I have subsequently written a book chapter for the related publication of the same name published by Cambridge Scholars in 2017, a link is included here.
'The kerb is fascinating, maybe it’s the height, we spend twenty minutes shuffling up and down in... more 'The kerb is fascinating, maybe it’s the height, we spend twenty minutes shuffling up and down in the sun, pulling at the fine blades of grass which grow between the cracks. Picking up stones. Eventually we move on to a grassy mound and climb up and down, investigating the plants growing around the base of a young rowan tree and in the long grass at the periphery of the car park. The boundaries between destination and point of arrival have yet to be learned and curiosity carries us across the tarmac like sprawling weeds. He falls asleep and we walk by the river.' Michele Allen
The photographic series Forgotten Fruit was produced over the course of a year whilst I was pregnant and my son was a small baby, documenting fruit growing in urban locations close to where I live. Initially I set out to document these places from a purely visual perspective and unusually for me the work didn’t anyone else. After a year I had created a large collection of images, revisiting trees or particular locations as the seasons changed, the theme if there was one was perhaps an anxiety about where our food comes from and how we might survive on what is to hand. As time moved on and I gained distance from the work I found it hard to separate my perception of it from the experience of motherhood and began to feel that this close inspection of the world on my doorstep reflected something of the shifting perspectives and experiences of place I had encountered as a new parent.
With this in mind I approached a new mother and asked her to create maps of her daily walks and routines, these maps made using the application ‘map my walk’ will be exhibited alongside my photographs as short video animations. I also plan to run a foraging walk in Washington during the course of the exhibition.
"""
I thought this might be useful for any other art practice based researchers, I have recently pass... more I thought this might be useful for any other art practice based researchers, I have recently passed my PhD by art practice. I submitted a thesis which described my own practical work alongside other relevant practice and critical debates, and also exhibited my work and some of the practical research- sketchbooks clippings etc as part of the viva process. I will upload the thesis abstract here as well. To view a video documenting the Apollo Pavilion sound installation follow the link .
An installation of photographic and video work produced as a result of a four month residency at ... more An installation of photographic and video work produced as a result of a four month residency at Durham Castle.
The full conference programme featuring abstracts and biographies for 28 international artists an... more The full conference programme featuring abstracts and biographies for 28 international artists and researchers and 3 keynote speakers.
An interdisciplinary conference organised by the 'WALK Research Centre', University of Sunderla... more An interdisciplinary conference organised by the 'WALK Research Centre', University of Sunderland and 'Land/Water and the Visual Arts', Plymouth University to coincide with the exhibition 'Walk On' which explores the use of walking in creative practice ( see link for more details). We aim to draw together researchers from a range of disciplines including ( but not restricted to) Fine Art, Photography, Writing, Geography, Anthropology and environmental studies to explore the ways in which creative and cultural practice have shaped and reflected on our interactions with the natural world.
This event investigated interaction with archives across a range of disciplines (including art, p... more This event investigated interaction with archives across a range of disciplines (including art, photography, history and curating). It explored how personal and private collections become archives through their placement within wider social, political and historical contexts.
Participants:
Stuart Brisley (Peterlee Project), Sophie Spencer-Wood (Picture Editor who worked for Phaidon on the books Century and the Family), Val Williams (writer, curator & Director of PARC), Marjolaine Ryley (artist/photographer working with issues around personal archives and collections), Stuart Howard (historian working with the NEMARC mining archive).
The full programme for the conference Of the Earth, featuring 28 papers and 3 keynote presentatio... more The full programme for the conference Of the Earth, featuring 28 papers and 3 keynote presentations from artists and academics engaged in issues connected to the environment. The event is predominantly arts based, however, there are numerous researchers who are discussing interdisciplinary projects or drawing on theory from outside the arts. We have numeruos presentations connected to climate change which may be of interest to practitioners from geography and environmental science.
Newstead and Annesley Country Park is created on the site of former colliery lagoons and spoil he... more Newstead and Annesley Country Park is created on the site of former colliery lagoons and spoil heaps, produced by the collieries of Newstead, Annesley and Linby in Nottinghamshire. I worked with environmental experts, members of the community, former miners and a historian to research the area's wildlife and heritage. I was particularly keen to identify the links between the sites industrial history and current ecology and to understand the history of the landscape's development, and industrial history which included a substantial rail yard and railway lines which have almost vanished from the landscape and tipping from three productive collieries. When working on the project I drew on my skills as a researcher, photographer and community practitioner, particularly focussing on photographic research and interviews as a way of gathering historical information and understanding the developing ecology of the country park. This site pulls together some of this research material, includng photographs, oral history extracts, maps and booklets written for the project .
"I will be contributing to the panel discussion at this event put together by academics at Durham... more "I will be contributing to the panel discussion at this event put together by academics at Durham University please see the attached flyer for information and the abstract below.
"What do we need to do to develop brownfield sites and make the best use of them? How do we want to use them? What technologies can be applied to make them useable? Brownfield or previously developed land, is everywhere. Nearly everyone has visited or lived near an area that was once used for industrial purposes, making it unsuitable for redevelopment. Besides being an eye sore, brownfield is also known to be detrimental to the health and wellbeing of communities who live near it, but often the financial costs are too great for it to be restored and developed. As the global population rises and land for agriculture and housing increases in demand, redeveloping brownfield may hold a solution to some of these challenges, but how do we do it? Some technologies are available, while others are in the making, but how can they best be used? This event will explore these questions with a panel of experts and practitioners and a general audience. Light refreshments (food and drinks) will be offered to participants to help keep you on your toes.
The event is OPEN TO ALL and will use the new economics foundation's Crowd Wise process to explore the question: Beginning with an open question, participants (panel and audience) are invited to work together to create and refine possible answers with a view to deciding jointly what the best solutions are."""
Please see the link below for video documentation of the event.