track cutting fox glacier

Stereo Field Recording
2 minutes 15s
Recorded early morning, 9 December 2010.

This work approaches the physicality of Fox Glacier, through a recording of guiding staff maintaining access on to the glacier. Each day staff work to re-cut a series of steps and pathways into the surface, making modifications to allow for the melting and shifting of the ice. The materiality and physicality of this small scale and repetitive act is in turn linked to the larger scale dynamics of the glacier as a whole.

iOS users can listen to this work here.

Posted on February 19, 2011 by cc in 2010, work | Tagged , | Leave a comment

work–in–progress : glacier mapping

GPS data collected over three week period.

This is an early sketch of some of the material gathered during my recent residency period in Fox Glacier, New Zealand. During the residency I undertook a dozen or so walks on the glacier, recording each route with a GPS device. With this work, my interests are in the experience of moving and navigating on the ice.

Resolving this piece of work will require an examination of the relationship between the line, movement and material experience, which I hope to achieve through a process of making physical and spatialising the collected GPS data.

Posted on February 12, 2011 by cc in news | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

artist talk : fox glacier

At the conclusion of my residency in Fox Glacier township I gave a presentation to the local community. As well as work in progress, I showed past works and works by other contemporary artists, such as Jeremy Wood to contextualise my project. Approximately 50 people attended, which considering the town’s population of 350, was extremely pleasing.

Posted on December 23, 2010 by cc in news | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

GPS drawing workshop

As Wild Creations artist in residence I offered to run a drawing workshop for pupils of Fox Glacier Primary School. Over three sessions I introduced the idea of drawing on the land, beginning with historical precedents such as the white horse chalk drawings in England and the Nazca drawings in Peru and moving on to work by Richard Long and Hamish Fulton. After a session on using Global Positioning System devices to record their movements, the students then created their own digital drawings by walking carefully designed routes; walking as a creative act, rather than a means of travelling.

Student participants were : Ollie Clarke, Jacob Sullivan, Liam Sullivan, Lucas Bron, Rhys Hopkins, Charlie Jewell, Matthew Morgan, Bayley Sullivan, Peter Williams, Taryn Hopkins, Rhiannon Barber and Naomi Halford.

Thanks to school staff Lesley Gillgren, Rebecca Griffiths and Linda Holmes.

Posted on December 12, 2010 by cc in news | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

talk : pecha kucha night edinburgh

I am presenting at the Edinburgh Festival edition of Pecha Kucha Night, this Friday September 3 at InSpace Gallery. My twenty images focus on the development of Dunedin, New Zealand; a colonial town settled by Scots and modelled on the city plan for Edinburgh’s New Town. Some interesting juxtapositions of odd images with place names familiar to the audience should take place.

Posted on September 1, 2010 by cc in news | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

perceptions of greenland

I have helped to develop Perceptions of Greenland, an exhibition of images by Edinburgh based artists and scientists at Tent Gallery. It aims to reveal parallels in the ways various disciplines observe and interact with this arctic environment and is organised by ASCUS : art science collaborative. Contributors include Mark Eischeid, Hamer Dodds, Pete Nienow, Ian Bartholomew, Jennifer Littlejohn and Malize McBride.

Opening event:  12-2pm, Friday July 16.
The show is visible from the street and will run continuously until July 23.

Posted on July 22, 2010 by cc in 2010, news | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

bloom : bury art gallery

Ward Hill has been selected by curator Tony Trehy for Bloom at Bury Art Gallery in Manchester. Featuring works from oil on panel to neon, from video to bonsai, artists will investigate what it means to apply order over nature. The show opens on May 1st and runs until July 17 and includes works by Lawrence Weiner, Shaun Pickard (pictured above), Ian Hamilton Findlay and Tamás Waliczky.

Posted on April 25, 2010 by cc in news | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

registered in art feature

Ward Hill is featured this month on Registered in Art, an artists video youtube channel curated by Lyndsay Mann.

Posted on April 23, 2010 by cc in news | Tagged , | Leave a comment

kitset 2.0


Laser cut model–making plywood, metal rings.

First exhibited at Phylogeny Weekend, John Hope Gateway building, Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh, Scotland. February 2010.

Then as part of a two person show Infinite Fondness, at Wolfson College, Oxford University, England. June 2010.

A development from the earlier three–dimensional drawing system, this Kitset was created specifically for an exhbition centred around the idea of phylogeny, or the evolutionary development and diversification of species. Modules are still based on the same underlying Penrose tiling geometry, but are adapted to make them meaningful in a specific scientific context. A secondary timber colour also adds another dimension to a phylogenetic reading of the work.

Posted on February 25, 2010 by cc in 2010, work | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

workshop : phylogeny weekend

I have developed a new version of Kitset for Phylogeny Weekend, an event organised by Hamer Dodds for the Royal Botanic Gardens of Edinburgh. Over the course of the weekend, the concept of phylogeny will be examined through various talks and workshops. These will provide an opportunity for thinkers, makers and players to consider how the interrelated subjects of time, place and relationship inform and affect creative and theoretical practices. Speakers include artist Gerhard Lang and academics Mike Phillips and Chris Speed.

Posted on February 12, 2010 by cc in news | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

wild creations residency award

Creative New Zealand and the New Zealand Department of Conservation have awarded me one of the 2010 Wild Creations artist residencies. I will be in Fox Glacier township, in the South Westland area of New Zealand, in November and December 2010 to work on a series of alternative mappings of the Fox Glacier.

Posted on December 2, 2009 by cc in news | Tagged , | Leave a comment

conference : architecture/ECOLOGY

Kitset has been selected as a participatory intervention in the Architecture/ECOLOGY conference, organised by the University of Sheffield School of Architecture. The conference will examine various notions of ecology and their relationship to the discipline of architecture, and features speakers from around the UK and abroad. Keynote speakers are Neeraj Bhatia and Maya Przybylski of Infranet Lab.

Posted on November 4, 2009 by cc in news | Tagged , , | Leave a comment