Linda Jackson
Joanna Kane
Pauline Thomas
Blair Thompson
(click on an image to open a larger version in a new window)
Project Developed
In my application to develop work at Hospitalfield I wrote about my desire to explore the relationship between architecture and religious belief. Religion, that is, not in the letter of belief, but the method, the process by which an experience of truth or meaning is mediated - icon, ritual and the theatre of space. In particular I was drawn to forms of cloister, (and the thoroughly religious development of the hortus conclusus), to monasticism and also to ruination - and questions of how the past accumulates layers of new meanings through preservation.
Arbroath is full of accessible metaphor and symbolism for this analysis, from the Abbey ruins so loaded with national definition, to Stevenson's Bell Rock Lighthouse - an illuminating presence in local sea stories. I was also particularly drawn to the site of St Vigean's, a settlement since before the time of the Picts.
At Hospitalfield, some unexpected resonances too (not least, the family motto of Nosce Te Ipsum - Know Thyself), the walled gardens and of course, the Memorial Chapel - the drama of the building both an artistic draw and a serious challenge. I occupied a range of spaces in the house and grounds as temporary 'studios', installation sites or performance spaces. Ultimately settling on the fifth floor room of the main tower, once used as an observatory. In this room I archived, sifted and sorted the works I was making all over the house - hours of video footage, old and new photography, found objects, props from performance works and other miscellany. I compiled lists: some practical - a library of dreams (spoken, written, interpreted - or not), books accumulated in my studio, some just from curiosity - Saints names associated with gardens, flowers dedicated to Mary the Mother of God, alchemical recipes, stone circles.
Much of the work became influenced by my taking up the practice of dowsing - described as 'the art of searching'. I quickly found myself going from using it in the field - understanding the architectural developments of a historic site, or cycling through the landscape following a path of energy linking significant sites - to using it in the studio - experimenting with measurement and alignment in the creation of drawings or temporary structures. Of particular interest were 'crossings' - vast straight topographical energies crossing at St Vigeans, lines of energy crossing through the alter of Arbroath Abbey, the crossing of the alignments of the Abbey Chancel and Bell Rock.
The works shown at the RSA exhibition were based around such a crossing (also conveniently aligned) and the films and objects on display attempted to show something of the obsessions, connections and processes by which I make work. I develop projects in a very intuitive way, allowing coincidences, mistakes and surprises to occur. I also see any reading of a project possibly only in accumulation. In video work this has led to an interest in layering of image, through repeated re-projection of footage onto different objects and surfaces, such as the local hessian. Overall, the outcome, whilst part gallery installation, was more a recreation of 'studio' space. It also alluded to further outcomes of site-specific work, in particular at some of the historic sites that have been central to the themes and subjects explored.
Outcomes
'In Residence' at the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh (with Emily Speed and Nicky Bird) November 2004.
Public Talk at the Royal Over Seas League, Edinburgh, December 2004.
Ongoing project research at Hospitalfield , 2005.
Response
Although still slightly too close to consider, I certainly feel that my practice benefited from 'the Hospitalfield effect' - that great leap forward spoken about by so many alumni. By having no formal prescribed outcomes, the possibilities for sustained research and experimentation here are quite unique.
Contact / Further Information
I can be contacted via email here , or through Hospitalfield.
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