A Mediated Forest

This paper initially explored how the 1960s and 1970s Land Artists influenced a subsequent generation of (often international) artists working in Grizedale Forest, England. It subsequently considers how analogue and digital media have affected these artist’s site-related practices.

Grizedale’s artist’s residency program, specifically inspired by American Land Art, was initiated in 1977. It was one of UK’s first initiatives exploring how location-specific Land Art may be interpreted here/there (delete as appropriate), given that the earlier artists’ preoccupations might lose relevance with geographic, cultural, and temporal translocation. Where does the local(e) reside, and what may occur through these translocations?

Grizedale’s artists initially adopted the spirit of Beardsley’s dictum by working exclusively with materials sourced in the Forest, which also acted as their home, studio and exhibition space. This formula successfully launched the (international) careers of artists such as Andy Goldsworthy. There have also been considerable changes: since 1999 Grizedale has taken several new media-driven directions, including commissioned billboards, online projects and video work.

The shift from analogue to digital media – what McLuhan calls mechanical and electric technologies – since 1977 is important when living and working in isolated forests. Digital’s immediacy when working miles away from photo laboratories or darkrooms, means that imagery can be created and disseminated virtually simultaneously, often blurring the distinctions between making, presenting and documenting site related artwork. Burnham’s argument about the art object slowly disappearing still resonates, but how have the subsequent ‘systems consciousness’(es) such Google Earth, Satnav and the Internet, created super-complexity for Grizedale’s artists and audiences alike?

This paper was delivered at the CAA annual conference in New York.