Practicing Landscape: Land, Histories & Transformation

'Practicing Landscape: Land, Histories & Transformation' comprises an Exhibition of practice-led research (to be complemented by a Symposium) held at the Lighthouse, Glasgow (25 Jan-22 March 2020). Embedded within the exhibition is research-led practice integral to diverse projects – individual and collaborative – that the 16 member of GSA’s Reading Landscape research group have been undertaking since the Group’s inception in 2014. The exhibition utilised the gallery as a dynamic space where reflexive curatorial, creative and theoretical practices relating to current debates in landscape research were investigated by the artists and explored with a wider public over the exhibition period, creating an important framework for new practice-led and applied research to be disseminated to diverse audiences. The collective research questions tested within the space of the exhibition were: - How do contemporary art and other interdisciplinary practices engage with (and expand) the themes of Land, Histories and Transformation? - How can such practices work with contested histories, identities and remoteness in specific locations? - What do land and other material practices reveal in terms of transformation, heritage and sustainability? - Which practical, creative and critical theoretical frameworks are currently being utilised to interrogate the politics of Land, Histories and Transformation? - How can a reflexive curatorial process activate these themes? In conceptualising 'Practicing Landscape: Land, Histories & Transformation', Bird and Brind built upon the interdisciplinary critical mass of GSA research groups, event series and collaborative projects researching landscape, including: - ‘Through a Northern Lens’ series [Robertson, F; Bird, N; Brownrigg, J]; - ‘Scalan Mills’ [Wall, G, Brind, S, Brownrigg, J, Hale, A (Historic Environment Scotland)]; - ‘Creative Centre for Fluid Territories’ [Brind, S, Harold, J, McMullan, S, Higgins, D (University of Bergen), Sandborg, J (University of Bergen)], Hadjichristou, Y (Department of Architecture, University of Nicosia) and Souto, A (Department of Architecture Nottingham Trent University)]; - ‘Law Arts & Island Resilience’ [Bird, N, Brind, S, Carter, J, Wall, G, Laiseca, M, Sindico, F and Crook, N, (University of Strathclyde)] and - ‘National Islands Plan – Embedded Artist’ [Laiseca, M, Brind, S]. Information panels relating to these research projects formed a core part of the exhibition presentation, in addition to individual research information panels [Bird, Brownrigg, Currall and Watt].