Alec Finlay & Luke Allan AIR 2013

reading writing | writing reading

These fourteen texts were written over one week at Outlandia, with both poets making one entry per day. A pre-arranged reading list paired books related to huts, dwelling, belonging, and Scottish landscape. Each day a chosen pair of books was read, one each, and poems composed in response. The result is a seven-day, two-sided poetry sequence on Outlandia specifically and dwelling in general. 

Outlandia Library (photo LA)

Download the fourteen texts ( pdf 3.9MB)

Kim Walker AIR 2013

Ultramundane

I am using the time in residence at Outlandia to build on my previous body of work by documenting techniques, strategies and games I invent and construct to measure the duration of my stay in Glen Nevis. Such play is informed from limited materials such as those I carry to Outlandia and those I find within the landscape – such as rocks, trees, vegetation, paths, e.t.c – and is framed through seriousness, the mundane, nonsense, failure and success.

Kim Walker
http://www.a-n.co.uk/artists_talking/
http://www.kimwalkerart.co.uk/

All images courtesy Kim Walker

Alison Lloyd AIR 2013

I CANNOT SEE THE SUMMIT FROM HERE 

[...] I wandered for a day as an OUTLANDIAN out and out into the area around the Water of Nevis, East of Steall ruins, with An Gearanach (982 m) and Binnein Beag (943 m) and Binnein Mor (1130 m) to the south and Aonach Beag (1234 m) to the north.  I realised while walking around here that my approach to walking; wandering along the contours on a map, sometimes taking bearings to ‘kinks’ in the contour lines, and then wandering off course and off the paths was one of my preferred ways of making my way and navigating through an area.  On days when there is no need to get anywhere in particular.  In June with long periods of day light this is easy to do.  Just pick an area, as I did here between Water of Nevis, Allt Coire nan Laogh, and Tom and Abhainn Rath and go for a day. 

I walked between most of the streams in an area of about five square kilometers.  Sitting, crouching and cowering in the landscape, down close to the water, hidden from view. 

Terrified in the landscape.

I have decided that I am walking to get off the path? Being off the path not on the path can represent a change in emotion.  I realised in looking again at Ana Mendieta photographs [Silueta Series" (1973–1980)] that a series of images representing movement or a change in consciousness could be a way of describing awkwardness, fear and anxiety.

All photos courtesy of Alison Lloyd

"We do not much need to understand the form and nature of our emotional relationship with wilderness, as to recognise that the nature of wilderness is itself formed from our emotional being."      

David Reason, Reflections of Wilderness and Pike Lane Pond [...]

Alison Lloyd

http://contemporaryartofwalking.com/

  

Katy Connor AIR 2013

Lights in the Forest

During my time in Outlandia, I thought of all the organic networks and forms of transmission such as sunlight, signals, and the invisible networks of tree roots and branches.

Giving form to these I experimented with placing mirrors in the landscape, to reflect light as organic signals and illuminate aspects of the environment.

Reflecting Ben Nevis is a hypothetical project; it was my attempt to reflect the sunlight from Outlandia, across the valley to the other side of the Glen. The audience were the multiple climbers attempting to scale the mountain.

Postcards 
Alongside these works, I also took a series of photographs incorporating GPS location software and satellite perspectives on the site. Using intermittent connections to mobile-phone networks, I was then able to send these as a series of daily postcards to document my residency in Outlandia.

All images courtesy Katy Connor

www.katyconnor.com

Clair Chinnery AIR 2013

The Human Nest Box

Whilst at Outlandia I undertook a number of activities. These ranged from site-based interventions at the tree-house itself, to process based field studies undertaken in the surrounding woodlands and in Glen Nevis, which will eventually lead to the production of new documentary based works. All work made whilst at Outlandia will form part of my extended research project Cuculus Prospectus (2011 - present). I have outlined individual aspects to the work below:

Generic Highland Host 2013

photo courtesy Clair Chinnery

1)    The Generic Highland Hybrid Nest:

Quite a lot of walkers – both local and from farther afield - visited the tree-house during my residency and were really intrigued by both the tree-house and the giant nest emerging inside.This work took place at the tree-house itself and took the form of a large ‘nest’ sculpture, which occupied the interior space of Outlandia. My original proposal for Outlandia was given the working title The Human Nest box, as the tree-house’s shape design, construction and site all reminded me of ‘human made’ birdhouses. The ‘Nest’ was entirely made from materials found at or near to the site and was constructed in an improvised manner in response to both environment and the interior limitations/possibilities of the space. The height of the interior of Outlandia proved invaluable in enabling long sections of material to be brought into the space. Methods used for construction were very similar to those used by many species of bird, but on a much larger scale and as the nest ‘grew’ the strength and engineering in it’s structure became apparent. When completed. The ‘bowl section’ of the nest was approximately 50cm above the floor of the tree-house, and was capable of holding multiple adult, human occupants with ease. All Materials used were carefully selected so as to not disturb the natural ecology of the forest. I used only dead (fallen) branches, twigs and other materials, and re-distributed these across the area at the end of the residency. Samples of materials used were documented and catalogued according to the archival process used in previous parts of Cuculus prospectus. These have been cross-referenced against known European and imagined potential North American Cuckoo hosts. This process revealed that the Outlandia nest, shares materials from many of these ‘real and potential’ hosts, but is in reality a hybrid nest formed from the materials used by many of these bird species.

Boatswains Call still 2013

photo courtesy Clair Chinnery

2)    The Boatswains Call:

Using the calls of 15 species of known Cuckoo hosts that live in both Europe and the New World (North America), I took video footage in which I replicated each of these calls using a boatswain’s whistle whilst in the tree-house (in it’s nest-box form).  This part of the work extends part of the project in which the colonial aspirations of Cuculus Prospectus are explored from a colonial/militaristic perspective. At the moment this footage is unedited. 

 CP field operation - Certhia americana 2013

photo courtesy Clair Chinnery

3) Cuculus Prospectus – Field Operation

Military field operations were explored further through documentation of a repeated action undertaken in various parts of Glen Nevis and on Cow Hill outside Fort William. For this work replica eggs - labelled in the same way that can often be seen in archives of natural history museums and institutions – were placed in ‘appropriate’ New World nesting locations (selected according to data collected as part of Cuculus prospectus), again using the 15 known intercontinental hosts referred to above. This work takes a documentary form and again is ‘in progress’.

 CP field operations 2013

photo courtesy Clair Chinnery

4)    General Information:

Whilst at Outlandia I stayed at the log cabin owned by Kenny Ferguson, which was immediately next to the peat track leading up the hillside to the tree-house. This was a totally ideal location occupying the closest possible habitable proximity to the tree-house.  I found myself using both the tree-house and the log cabin as a workspace. In the same way that climbers/explorers etc. might use a base-camp. I took large waterproof laminated data-sheets from Cuculus Prospectus with me, and utilised and annotated these in the log cabin throughout the residency with information relevant to my activities. These annotated sheets may in themselves form works that document my process. Another relevant and serendipitous aspect to the residency was that I arrived in Glen Nevis, only days after the first Cuckoos of 2013. The fact that Spring 2013 was so late in starting, meant that, my arrival and planned activities were all the more timely. Cuckoos could be heard throughout the residency calling all along the Glen, and from the tree-house itself. 

Clair Chinnery

Stelios Manganis AIR 2013

Motion Sensor

Outline: 

Due to the complexity of the proposed project and the need for collecting precise data, I decided to treat this residency as a pilot project in order to investigate the possibilities, challenges and opportunities present at the given location. 

The basic interest in communication between man and environmental elements, through technological aids remained unaltered. In addition, I set out to examine how the initial aim to create a social dialogue between Ben Nevis and the local community, through an investigation of new boundaries of perception and illustration of the natural environment, could practically be achieved both effectively and efficiently. 

Practical Execution: 

A camera installed inside the cabin, was connected to a pc and recorded live footage. A specially designed sketch (programming script) detected motion and changes in light levels through the camera feed, and motion and light sensors. By calculating the exact change in position and illumination of every single pixel within the camera’s field of view, the script is able to isolate the change in every individual tree. Based on this detection, the script converts these slight changes into a visual effect of particle ghost trail. The resulting visual enhances the concept of communication between individual trees, and between the tree and the viewer. In addition, it creates an additional dimension to the aesthetic properties linked to the overall movement and response of the trees to natural impulses, such as the wind and light. 

Presentation: 

One could experience in real time, the actual visual effect created through the programming script, through the live streaming of the video footage from Outlandia on my webpage. Based on this pilot project, it has been made clear that live streaming of video footage from Outlandia is possible, since broadband connection can be achieved via a satellite signal, without the need of any fixed, permanent infrastructure or facilities. 

All images courtesy Stelios Manganis 2013

Future Applications: 

The direct implications of the way that this project was presented, even if this was done as a trial, is that projects at Outlandia can be accessible online to a wider audience, and also Outlandia, Ben Nevis and the surrounding environment can be promoted through a number of possible Cultural and Tourist webpages, by either hosting the live stream or providing a direct link on their webpages. This can be developed into a number of different programming scripts, each offering a number of audio-visual effects, which the viewer can access or even control remotely through a webpage. 

Stelios Manganis

 www.steliosmanganis.com 

Laura Donkers AIR 2013

Learning to walk on all fours again

"What has fallen will be righted" 

Laura Donkers 2013

lichen ink, pastel, graphite, Arches water colour paper

1000cm x 150cm

photo Hélène Baril

I’ve been learning to walk on all fours again. My movements slowly becoming more streamlined, elegant even. My shoulders and back feel different. Their stiffness in the mornings bears testimony to the unusual weight bearing on the body.  As it moves upwards loose stones, changes in camber and the sudden steepness of the Peat Track do not hinder progress. Four limbed movement allows a calmness of rhythm. Up, up, up the relentless climb. Then the blissful sight of the wooden pavement - no need now for four legs.The pavement is beautiful, delineating a way through the trees, defining the topography: steps up, steps down, level, level, up again, down, dirt steps, dirt pavement, down, wooden steps again, a glimpse of Outlandia with something shining on the roof. More steps down and then a bridge across to the building. At last a key to get in. 

The painted library. 'Intelligent' graffiti ...  an invitation to name a book. The view across to the mountains. A need to open the window. Lean out. That cold fresh air... I’m here to make work. I close the window. It feels noisy in here and challenging. Not the calm I expected. I'll go away and come back again later bringing the rest of my materials, see how I feel then.

The noise is still here, but I ignore it and start to unroll the paper. Cover the window. Make the first marks, more follow. Unroll more paper. Slowly I become aware that the noise has gone. Just in my head. Doubts. Not from the walls, or the view or clear roof, with the glimpse of sunlight and birds, or that crack. Or the frequent visitors who’ve followed the wooden path, shaking the building as they venture onto the bridge. I feel like an animal in my lair. Observed and disturbed. I lock the door. Lock myself in. They still come, knocking, and speculating and chattering. I could make a noise to frighten them, but that would only make things worse, so I stay quiet and still till they are gone.

The work flows, for days, the subtle effects of moving and thinking and drawing the space. It is suddenly complete. Time to explore now, and rest. Time to pack up. Retreat. Lock the door. Go down.

A place to work, a place to think, a place to go to. The repeated journey has taught me something. The difference between the wild and the tamed. The Peat Track isn’t really that wild, but it is challenging every time, requiring fitness and observation, intention and consciousness; the wooden pavement that leads you to Outlandia tames the wild, regulating the natural terrain to allow you to walk upright. The journey through the wilderness to arrive at the start of the board walk, that floats there, like an idea of society.

Laura Donkers
www.earthebrides.co.uk

"What has fallen will be righted" (detail)

Laura Donkers 2013

Alexander Stevenson AIR 2013

The Wildman–Prelude

Alexander Stevenson is a Glasgow based artist working across a broad range of media to explore and challenge perceptions of history, cultural appropriation, shared beliefs, personal myths, and the act of re-presentation. During his time at Outlandia he made a short film and a costume. In the film, The Wildman–Prelude the artist is seen in the landscape hand-processing raw, natural materials to fabricate a costume that effects his transformation into 'The Wildman'. Glen Nevis provides an arena for a choreographed, solitary, artisanal performance, in which the landscape is simultaneously framed as a visual backdrop for a play on self-encountering, and as a resource for the maker's basic materials. In his video, Stevenson leaves us guessing where this might lead. 

Time spent at Outlandia went on to inspire Stevenson's Wild Project, a creative initiative in collaboration with Stan Coenders and the MeetInZdonov Arts Space in the North of the Czech Republic to provide a hands-on international residency / networking event for contemporary artists in Europe. 

http://www.thewildproject.eu/ 

Video stills from The Wildman–Prelude

by Alexander Stevenson 2013

vimeo.com/69713064

www.alexanderstevenson.com/

Gwenan Davies AIR 2013

Means of escape

For Gwenan, the works for the Outlandia residency came through a short period studying the town of Fort William and its visitors looking to experience the nature of the area through the pre-arranged tourist facilities available. Having spent a few days in the town itself and climbing to her residency studio in Glen Nevis, she reflected on the means that people escape to the 'wild'. The resulting works are a series of photographs that highlight the problematic contradictions between the human desire to relate to nature and modern day commercial tourism.

Gwenan Davies 

Photo Gwenan Davies

Danielle Heath AIR 2013

The nature of photography

I went to Outlandia hoping to see how the nature of photographs would change once they met real nature. How photographs as objects would change with wind and rain transforming them over the duration of the residency, and how perceptions of nature depicted in these images compared and related to the real thing. I was trying to begin a semiotic discussion between the representation of the Scottish landscape/People’s images of the Scottish landscape and landscape itself.
This is how I went about it- 
I interviewed members of the public around Glasgow, intending to arrive at the residency having surveyed people about their perceptions of what nature is.
Strangers told me about their mental-images of what the Scottish countryside/landscape was for them. What came out of these interviews was
1- a concept that Scottishness is somehow fundamentally related to the idea of the Scottish landscape, and 2- that the countryside is somehow curative.
3- It seems to be associated with freedom and play, connected to memories of childhood 4- it is also considered a wild place, and 5- you can feel the echoes of history there. It is also timeless, like hundreds of years have not affected the land.
Some other people had a different point of view, suggesting that the land has been changed by farming and sheep grazing creating an agricultural desert.  Other people brought up in the countryside/landscape felt slightly less ideological about it, but still felt it was an important place to be. Meanwhile the people who were brought up in Glasgow seem to associate the countryside and the landscape with an inherent part of being Scottish, even if they’d spent their whole lives in Glasgow city.
I went and found representations of these ideas through paintings and taxidermy birds that came out of the Scottish landscape itself.
I photographed these objects and asked people to be photographed with them, I got all of the subjects to breathe in and breathe out in the photographs whilst imagining they were out there- in the landscape. Thereby having both moments of breathing photographed, imitating what we do when we first reach what we consider to be nature, and experiencing its curative effects.
Then, on the 25^th February I took these printed photographs to Outlandia [...]

Danielle Heath
www.danielleheath.co.uk

All images courtesy Danielle Heath