Hedge Cutting at Yewfield
For two weeks in July and two in August, I have been working on the research phase of a residency at Grizedale Arts. The work I have been developing looks at the connectivity of people to place, what happens to a sense of community, ownership, responsibility and belonging in an environment so heavily populated by a transient tourist population? What is the relationship between the ‘tourist’ population and ‘resident’ and what meachanisms might enable a more meaningful, collaborative and contributive experience of place?
As part of my reseach process I have been investigating existing models of contributive tourism in the Lake District including the Woofing Scheme and National Trust Working Holidays. Through active engagement in these schemes, having cut hedges, practiced my topiary, cleared pathways, built a footpath and landscaped a fell, I have been exploring the potential usefulness of being a visitor as well as the limitations of voluntary unskilled labour.
Through this work I wish to explore the role of the artist in relation to what is useful, who defines what usefulness is, and to place in question a process of amateur contribution through response and understanding of site to the contribution of undemanded but professionalised expertise.
This research will lead on to a performative Tourist Training Camp, I am currently developing, to be hosted by Lawson Park in 2011 to train ‘super tourists’ and to match make incoming skill sets with local demand.
