Projects Archive

RECOVERED LANDSCAPES March 30 2006

Organised jointly by the University of Leeds CCASE-NET (Creative Collaboration in Arts, Science and Engineering Network) and Landscape+Arts Network Services at Gunpowder Park. This event was the 4th in a series of workshops being staged around the UK; the objective of the CCASE-NET workshops is to draw together researchers across the traditional boundaries of the arts, humanities, science s and technologies and to explore the possibility of novel research projects.

This one day interdisciplinary conference explored industrial landscapes transformed into cultural landscapes. For additional information on CCASE-NET please contact the Facilitator, Bobbie Millar b.j.millar@leeds.ac.uk.

Presenter and Presentations
David Hill, Harewood Professor of Fine Art, University of Leeds

Introduction to our theme: Recovered landscapes
David Hill is Harewood Professor of Fine Art at the University of Leeds. He is a leading authority on Romantic landscape and in particular on the work of JMW Turner and is also interested in contemporary landscape and environmental art.
‘Our series of CCASE-NET workshops is being held at a variety of stimulating venues. The theme of Recovered Landscapes has been chosen for Gunpowder Park to reflect the ideas central to the Park’s development. In a time of unprecedented environmental change and concern the workshop will offer the opportunity to consider some of the most pressing issues. ‘Recovered’ implies both restoration to health and also redemption from a state of abjection. Both are contestable ideas and this introduction will hope to outline some of the main problems and possibilities.’

Tony Beckwith, Artistic Director (April 2004 – July 2006) Gunpowder Park
Creative led regeneration
Tony represents Lee Valley Regional Park Authority on Hertfordshire County Council’s Green Heart Partnership steering group, implementing major changes in the delivery of arts and environment projects across Hertfordshire.

Eileen Woods, Creative Development Director, Gunpowder Park
Landscape+Arts Network Services
Eileen presented an overview of Landscape+Arts Network Services partnership with Lee Valley Regional Park Authority and the programming for the Park, inspired by the heritage of experimentation.

Ruud Kuijer, Artist, Utrecht
Landveroveren: A Dutch perspective
Ruud Kujjer is one of the leading contemporary sculptors in Holland. He has a studio on the Rhine Canal in Utrecht where he has been developing a major project in recovering a derelict industrial environment: ‘Sculpture at Lands End’. The work is ambitious in scale and the funding is entirely raised by the artist. He has been the recipient of a number of awards, including most recently ‘de Fentener van Vlissingen Cultuurprijs’ in 2004. His most recent project is ‘Landveroveren’ is very close in translation to ‘recovered landscapes’. His talk reviewed his work and explored the relationships between sculpture to environment or public space.

James Brogden, Senior Teaching Fellow, School of Design, University of Leeds
Liminal Places
Jim Brogden is an artist and head of Graphic Design at the University of Leeds. His work concentrates on abandoned spaces, isolated by modern infrastructure developments. He is particularly interested in sites such as motorway embankments, quarries and coalfields. His current project is concentrated on the Aire Calder corridor largely now cut off by motorway development but formerly an important industrial site on the Aire Calder Navigation and currently scheduled for complete redevelopment and ‘recovery’.

David Thompson, Associate Director, LDA Design
Gunpowder Park
‘This project is a remarkable case of sustainable construction. The presentation looked at how an integrated team of client, consultants, artists and contractors transformed a barren 90 hectare brown field site into an exemplar high quality Park for the 21st Century where the public and wildlife can thrive. The Park offers a base for collaborative arts and sciences projects to work in and interpret the site through demonstrations, exhibitions and events.

Dr Andrew Hudson-Smith, Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London
(CASA) is an initiative within University College London to develop emerging computer technologies in several disciplines which deal with geography, space, location, and the built environment. CASA is run under the Directorship of Michael Batty Professor of Spatial Analysis and Planning (UCL).Andrew Hudson-Smith is currently working on - the Virtual London project, having completed his PhD in Internet Based Communications: The Impact on Town Planning at the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, University College London. He has worked on a range of Internet related projects at CASA including the recent award winning Hackney Building Exploratory Interactive.