Activities January - July 2016

THE WOOD TRAVELS

Although our "Landed (Freeman's Wood)" project was completed last year, it has continued to attract widespread attention in 2016.

It has been presented at international conferences in Stockholm, Gateshead, and Madrid.  Articles have been published by The Guardian, Elsewhere – A Journal of Place, “Land is Free”, ‘Common Ground’ and ‘The Woodland Trust’.  An artwork was exhibited in Stockholm.

Full details and links for all these presentations are listed below

PLACES

Stockholm - 1

Artists Goldin+Senneby included a model which they had produced of “A3 A Plot”, their commissioned piece on Freeman’s Wood, at the wonderful Prince Eugen’s Waldemarsudde castle. This was one part of their retrospective exhibition, Standard Length of a Miracle, which took place at multiple venues in Stockholm from 27 January-15 May.  

Stockholm - 2

I gave a talk at the Undisciplined Environments conference in Stockholm, 20-24 March.  This was the International Conference of the European Network of Political Ecology (ENTITLE).  

“Political Ecology is a perspective that seeks to understand who is involved in, and who benefits or loses from, how our environment is produced and reproduced.”

Gateshead/Newcastle

I presented a slide show and video at the Cultural Heritage in Landscape (CHeriScape) conference V: Landscape In Imagination And The Virtual Future , at Baltic, Gateshead/Newcastle on 14-16 June 2016

CHeriScape is a network which explores landscape and heritage. After four previous conferences at Ghent, Amersfoort, Oslo, and Madrid, this fifth and final conference made connections to the arts and to virtual imagination.  

Madrid

Our Freeman’s Wood video was shown in Visualizing Contested Cities, at the international conference in Madrid :

From CONTESTED_CITIES to global urban justice – critical dialogues. 4-7 July 

“A forum of radical academics, practitioners and activists from different theoretical, disciplinary and geographical backgrounds coming together to probe the multiple forms of urban injustice that shape cities across the world. Cities have always been contested spaces in which struggles over different political visions of urban development, planning and life take place; yet urban contestation is increasing.”

Los Angeles

A presentation proposal was accepted for the Arts in Society conference 2016, at University of California, Los Angeles, in August, but unfortunately we do not have funds to cover the expenses to attend.

PUBLICATIONS

Landscape Research

An article was published in Landscape Research Group LR Extra newsletter Issue 75   LR Extra promotes interdisciplinary dialogue on issues related to contemporary landscape. It has members and subscribers in more than 40 countries.

The Guardian - 1

An excellent article by Bradley Garrett, “What the battle for Freeman's Wood says about the future of our common land”, was published on 10 February.

“For years, Lancaster locals treated Freeman’s Wood as common space – until its Bermuda-registered owner submitted a development plan, and erected fencing to keep them out. Now the commoners are fighting back.”

The Guardian - 2

Freeman’s Wood was mentioned in a further article by Bradley Garrett:

“Hands off #OurLand: gifting green space to QPR highlights wider threat to cities” on 13 June.

“Around the country, common spaces on the edges of cities – Freeman’s Wood in Lancaster is another long-cherished example – are coming under threat of development.”

'Elsewhere – A Journal of Place'

An interview with Layla Curtis about her Trespass app was published on the 'Elsewhere' blog entitled “Crossing the fence: The Trespass app and oral history” on 27 March. 

'Land is Free'

An article was published on the “Land is Free” website in May

‘Common Ground’ and ‘The Woodland Trust’

An article was published in the Summer 2016 edition of “Leaf”, a magazine published by ‘Common Ground’ and ‘The Woodland Trust’.