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RED
EARTH Autumn
Equinox, 1990 ~ Activation at dusk OUTCROP was a series of standing forms connecting sky and land, marking the horizon of the Sussex Downs. Built
from green timber, local wheat, chalk and earth, the sculptures
reflect the substance and hidden structure of the surrounding landscape.
The forms were inspired by visible stages of vegetation growth;
the photosynthetic urge upward countered by the increasing weight
of the fruit it bears, pulling the structure back towards the earth.
The
wave form attempts to capture the energy and motion which runs through
a field of growing barley. It refers to the subterranean geology
and origins of the chalk landscape – once covered by a prehistoric
sea rich with marine life whose skeletal remains comprise the calcite
and silica deposits which now make up the chalk and flint Downlands
of Southern England. OUTCROP
evoked ancient interventions in the landscape – cairns, dolmens,
standing stones – and the stark experience of hay stooks and
agricultural buildings in the open field. Symbolic, ritual, practical,
temporary. Structures which mark a transitory human presence in
the landscape. Identifying
the need to bring the public into closer communication with the
phenomena of the natural world, RED EARTH events are activations
of space: experiments combining sculpture installation, performance,
sound, light, and video with fire, water, earth and pyrotechnics.
They are investigations into matter, connecting art, science and
nature: in effect physical speculations on the power and energy
of elemental processes. RED
EARTH co-directors Caitlin Easterby and Simon Pascoe are artists
based at Stanmer Park, Brighton, England. Together they conceptualise,
devise and produce all RED EARTH events in collaboration with artists
and non-arts professionals. They also lecture in Art and the Environment
at Sussex University CCE. For
more information contact: |