L@tE

This is the second time that the Yorkshire Sculpture Park has been the venue for a L&A Network conference and, judging by the enthusiastic comments of delegates, it will not be the last. A more perfect constellation of landscape, artwork and conference facilities would be hard to find. As for location, within the YSP’s 500 acres stands a small obelisk indicating the geo- graphical centre of Britain - a venue more central to the inhabitants of our isle literally does not exist. For those fortunate enough to attend, the first item on a stimulating and varied menu was the opening of a major exhi- bition of the work of Eduardo Chillida. The reception which followed gave delegates their first taste of the excellent hospitality of the YSP. Wine flowed and, before the serious business of the conference proper, there was ample time to walk in the sun- shine seeking out the beautifully sited Chillidas. Some of the more intrepid joined walking tours of the Park and of recently acquired work from the Arts Council Collection. All were able to take pleasure in the many charms of the Bretton landscape, a balm for the rigours of travel and a perfect means to prepare

Jlll Raggett launched proceedings with an illuminating talk on the unexpected ways in which art and agriculture have met in fruitful collaboration in Essex (see article on page 3). As she showed us the work of students working in the ‘green laboratory’ of Writtle College gardens the shattering of commonly held beliefs about what goes on behind the gates of agricultural colleges was audible. Next the sculptor Lorna Green invited us on what verged on a world tour as she presented a selection of work from an enviable and prolific artistic career. Response to the site, whether it be the grounds of a Cheshire school or Bondi Beach, is clearly of paramount importance in her work and her willingness to adapt every imaginable material to her purpose is a strong indication of this.

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As for location: within YSP’s 500 acres stands a small obelisk indicating the geo- graphical centre of Britain.

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The important issue of site specificity was then taken up by the Leeds-based PhD student Victoria Hunter as she outlined her attempts to address the possibly even more vexed

he mind for the business in hand. Billed rather modestly as ‘refreshments’ a sumptuous buffet accompanied the start of the members’ presentations. These took place in the auditorium of YSP’s impressive new visitor centre,

question of how we are to discern the ways in which the site influences the work of performance artists. We saw a film of dance students striving to respond in an unmediated way to the YSP’s access sculpture trail.

a number of individuals having toiled to give the venue a lived in’ look by providing a backdrop of exhibits. The presentation slot was very well subscribed and four hours were packed with a wide range of engaging and interesting material.

Fortunate enough to have once had a residency at Ness Botanic Gardens, home of the National Willow Collection, Stephanie Bunn clearly has a great empathy with this material.

This was amply demonstrated as she and John Warnes took turns in guiding us through some of their beautiful woven willow projects, a series of commissions resulting in extensive structures of both living and dead willow. John gave us images of his own living and dead willow furniture, some of it the fruit of workshops where initiates have clearly let themselves be inspired by the capacities oTthis material. A visit to the Tondu Iron Works near Bridgend by a group of artists working with movement and found materials was the starting point for the next presentation. Their aim was, above all, to let the place speak through them. Jeff Higley’s film of their encounter with this highly charged fragment of our industrial past achieves the difficult task of being both a lucid evocation of the site and of the artists’ responses to it, as well as a lyrical and beautiful piece of film in its own right. Next we were transported to the Northern United States, to Crater Lake National Park and the evocative Dead Indian Memorial Road. Here the artist Victoria McOmie has been working with ephemeral materials: ice, dyed fleece and pigmented snow. She has given fleeting substance to her own solitary replies to these vast and remote landscapes. What remains of those often mysterious works is a stunning photographic record, but one which, McOmie insists, at best affords us no more than a glimpse of her encounters. The arts of the film maker were exercised once more in Cecile Elstein’s video presen- tation of what was titled a ‘Mindscape in a Landscape’ (see article on page 5). This was partly a record of the life of a public artwork - a curious construction of ropes which grew and was transformed before us until it seemed to take on a life of its own. Of particular interest were records of moments when the public encountered this new and inexplicable object.

Such unselfconscious reactions are a rich source of insight for the makers of public art. Together the artists Jane Frost and Janette Porter have developed a concept which they call ‘Living@theEdge‘. They have created a series of works at locations in Lincolnshire, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk. These landscapes are linked by their close proximity to waterways and the work aims to explore the physical and visual impact that this has on land and community.

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Perhaps it should not surprise us when video, rather than being the vehicle by which the work is made accessible to an audience, becomes the work itself.

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Maureen Kendal ended the round of members’ presentations with a description of her involvement with film media. She has worked with Cecile Elstein and is currently deploying highly sophisticated video surveillance technology in her project for Lee Valley’s Gunpowder Park (see article on page 6). Her work raised an interesting question. Plainly even L&A Network members cannot be everywhere at once and so the slide show. or its PowerPoint equivalent, functions on these occasions as a useful substitute for visiting the landscape or the artwork in the landscape. It is apparent, however, that the increased availability of sophisticated software has encouraged many of us to venture into more ambitious video presentations of our work. There is no denying the medium’s scope and power, so perhaps it should not surprise us when video, rather than being the vehicle by which the work is made accessible to an audience, becomes the work itself. And so with our conference title in mind, we might ask ourselves: Is this the ‘new art’ or the ‘new landscape’?