The Man in the Mask 2011

Dear London Fieldworks,

I am afraid I am going to pull out of taking on the residency at Outlandia commencing on the 14th of November. There maybe innocent reasons behind the report that appeared in the local press this week. However, having passed this gentleman whilst out walking, I wouldn't feel comfortable about working up at the Outlandia space with the chance of him appearing at the door.

Apologies for any inconvenience I may have caused with your booking arrangements.

Best Wishes

BC

Scanned from The Press & Journal

Bram Thomas Arnold AIR 2011

Below are edited notes from my first three days at Outlandia. I went to reopen the project Walking Home which is forming the foundation of my PhD research at Oxford Brookes University.

OUTLANDIA,

12 / 05 / 2011.
‘“Concrete turns to Chalk dust, London fades” reads the first postcard in the Walking Home series. Out here London faded, but not to Chalk dust, here it faded to Spaghnum Moss and little rivers, bluebells and a slight touch of winter. And the grand soft evening, rain falling straight down, only slightly to the side like. But the feeling was the same. That deep, tense, exhaustion falling off, flaking like sun burn on a train journey across coasts.’
 
13 / 05 / 2011.
‘The camping position was not perfect. Really, it was aggressively, not perfect. It was damp and cramped, sloping, and all for the first time in a long time. Slipping into a crumpled damp corner of the tent, I slept just a bit, and kept on. I realised for the first time I had no real food with me. A useless stove, and no matches.’
 
14 / 05 / 2011.
‘Saturday morning and after better sleep. One of those secret campsites I’ve developed a knack for finding. Just under the eaves of a deep pine wood, years of needles forming a deep mattress and I, I could have been in Somme Vesle again somewhere, half way across northern France, walking to Switzerland, the day after the long rain. I am trying to use this week to develop parallels of sensation, echoes in time and that style of living again. Today I am scheduled to walk, away up the glen, to camp in a corrie the other side of a mountain.’
 
Bram Thomas Arnold

Resting Place (After Somme Vesle)

Tent, cremated remains, polkadot handkercheif, pine forest

photo Bram Thomas Arnold

http://www.bramthomasarnold.com/

Anna Keleher AIR 2011

 Journey into the Far Distant Present

[ M]y short time at Outlandia was a privilege and I was bowled over by the beauty. Outlandia is patient, kind, vigilant and harmonious. I had an intensely rewarding day. It is a place with a future  Packing with a headache in spitting rain was a challenge. My mini-sled took an age to pack. I discarded almost all essential items, finding space only for oatcakes, nuts, raisins, water, mint tea, audio recorder, sketch books + furry cover, black pen, cotton rug. Using my black rain jacket as a tarp against the rain, I tied the bundle onto my sled with slender guy ropes and plaited baling twine.   

My barefoot journey to Outlandia followed The Peat Track; a path with an intimate knowledge of sleds. Helped by gravity the ancient clods must have descended Cow Hill on sleds to be used as fuel in the homes and workshops  of the Glen.  I loved walking the boardwalk over the dark hillside of larch, sitka spruce and damp moss and crossing the bridge into an interior that is dry, welcoming and alive.  The forest boardwalk acts as a lure, enticing unwary travellers into the abode of Outlandia. In this way many inquisitive visitors arrive at OUTLANDIA. 

And so it was during my residency that a Scandanavian family arrived as I was data gathering from ancient times. I incorporated the interruption into my journey and their chatter led me along a straw path over a glacier to a group of  “original people” and their reindeer. I think they influenced the outcome.
 

All images by Mark Keleher

https://claireandanna.com/
https://www.axisweb.org/thinking-and-ideas/2015/07/artist-of-the-month-anna-keleher/