Artists in the Landscape
Re/walking – Re/wilding – Re/generating & Agri/culture 2.0
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AALERT 4 DM – Workshop/Writing retreat
The AALERT 4DM (Arts and Artists in Landscape and Environment Research Today for Decision Making) project invites you to a workshop on 21-24 November 2021 at Kestle Barton, Helford, Cornwall.
The workshop aims to develop a clear overview of the benefits artists bring in landscape decisions in the context of private land. The discussions will be informed by the experiences of Kestle Barton and Trelowarren Estate on the Lizard. Through a series of presentations and walks led by Dr Bram Thomas Arnold, we will explore the advantages and challenges artists bring in transdisciplinary groups of scientists, landowners and other stakeholders working on projects blending cultural activities, art, hospitality, and the politics of food production in the vicinity of wilding and regenerative agriculture.
The workshop will be combined with a writing retreat that will enable knowledge exchange, comparison and contrast between the Cornish case studies and similar artistic interventions explored in earlier workshops organised by the AALERT 4DM project.
The workshop is by invitation only, and places are limited. However, accommodation, travel and subsistence expenses will be covered for a small number of participants who can travel to Cornwall. There will be the opportunity for a limited number of participants to join parts of the event online.
Please let us know by Monday 1st November whether you will be able to attend in person or online.
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Kestle Barton is a cultural institution situated within a fifty-six-acre estate of productive agricultural land with long-standing plans to increase food production levels on its land by implementing experimental forms of agri/cultural production. At Kestle Barton, the transition from a traditional farm to a cultural space has involved artists and artistic processes right from the start. As a result, Kestle Barton opens up its land resource for meaningful audience participation on a grand scale through artistic means.
Trelowarren Estate on the Lizard is a thousand-acre family estate dating back 700 years. The current owners aim to transform the management of the estate through wilding and regenerative agriculture. In 2018 the Environmental Sustainability Institute (ESI), University of Exeter, Penryn, worked with the estate to host a workshop on place-based transdisciplinary research, which led to a pilot programme of baseline surveys to gather evidence to support the estate’s land management decision-making. Bram’s role as an artist and researcher embedded in the process was to utilise his transdisciplinary art-practice to integrate the activities of the researchers with each other and with the key stakeholders on the estate.
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The AALERT team will bring together artists with natural and social scientists, policymakers, and land managers at Kestle Barton to consider the following questions through walking, writing, and talking them into the landscape:
- Why are artists involved in wilding the land projects, and what do their artistic means offer?
- How can artists contribute to wider understandings and valuing the land?
- How can artists contribute to making better decisions balancing land wilding and food production?
- What are the limitations of artistic interventions in privately owned land and what modes of best practice might the AALERT workshops be able to highlight?
Logistical notes
Accommodation on site is in Kestle Barton’s award-winning holiday accommodation a 20-minute walk from the famous Frenchman’s Creek on the Helford River on the Lizard peninsula in Cornwall.
For participants travelling from further afield, it is suggested they arrive Sunday evening; we can confirm travel details with participants after registration closes on Monday 25 October. The nearest train stations are Redruth or Falmouth Town and we will coordinate transport from these places with confirmed participants nearer the time. Lunch and evening catering will be provided by artist Mollie Goldstrom on-site at Kestle, the self-catering cottages will be provided with breakfast options.
There will be an optional evening meal at Kestle Barton for ALL participants on Sunday 21 November
– Please confirm your interest in this by Monday 25 October.
Preliminary Map of a Three-day workshop
Day one – Monday 22 November
All participants for the one-day workshop to arrive at Kestle at 9.30 am.
10.15 – 3.30 pm: Presentations/ Guided walk of the Kestle Barton estate
1.00 – 2.00 pm: Lunch
2.00 – 3.30 pm: Presentations followed by Q&A
3.30 pm – Refreshments
4.00 – 5.00 pm: Discussion – outline key points
6.30 pm: Dinner
Evening 1: An iteration of Bram’s performance reading group Bibliotherapy for the Anthropocene centred around the landscape hosted in the orchard – weather permitting.
Day two – Tuesday 23 November
9.30 am: introductory exercise hosted by Bram or other
10.15 am – 12.30 pm: A presentation of The Two Estates – based on Bram’s work on the Trelowarren Estate followed by discussion.
1.00 – 2.00 pm Lunch break
2.00 – 6.30 pm Collaborative writing in response to presentations, finding of recent AALERT activities, and relevant independent research. Tasks to be set by participants. (Includes 15 minutes refreshment break around 4.00 pm)
7.30 pm: Collective dinner preparations of locally sourced vegetarian meals.
Evening 2: Film screening – Robinson in Ruins (2010) with a discussion in the light of Mark Fisher’s writing about the film for the BFI.
Day Three – Wednesday 24 November
9.30 am – 11.30 am: Collaborative writing
11.30 am – 12.30pm: Recap
12.30: Departure from Kestle Barton