Counter Phenomenon by David Behar Parahia
Artist Films and Talks Programme in Gloucestershire
This autumn we have collaborated with other organisations to present a public programme of events: beginning with a film screening and talk by David Cotterrell - presented by Mezzanine - at SVA, Stroud, followed by a talk at the Beechenhurst Visitor Centre, Nr. Coleford, about his approach to his new commission for the Trail. The following week David Behar Perahia offers a talk about his practice at 2 venues, entitled “Site specificity, community and public involvement” – we hope you can make one of them.
David Cotterrell artist films and talk (Mezz#02)
7.30–9.30pm / Thu 29th Oct / Stroud Valleys Artspace / £4
David Cotterrell artist talk and presentation of practice:
2pm – 3pm / Sat 7th Nov / Beechenhurst Lodge, nr. Coleford / free
David Behar Perahia artist talk and presentation:
2pm – 3pm / Sat 14th Nov / Beechenhurst Lodge, nr. Coleford / free
David Behar Perahia artist talk and presentation:
6-7.30pm / Mon 16th Nov / The University of Gloucestershire in room TC001 at Francis Close Hall (FCH main lecture theatre) / free
and Tuesday 17th November at London Met University - tbc
Behar Parahia’s visit is being supported by the British Israeli Arts Training Scheme – BIARTS, a British Council initiative in partnership with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Culture and Sport. Behar Parahia was recently shorltisted for a commission for the Sculpture Trail. He is an Israeli artist whose work researches the notion of place to discover the layers that compose a local context. He asks questions about the physical process of active perception, the participative “spectator”, and the appropriate use of materials for a given situation. His interventions in site/place/context seek to convey a new perspective about people’s sense of locality, considered through physics, chemistry and architecture, drawing on his multi-faceted background that manifests a unique way to carve out meaning from a given situation.
David Cotterrell Appointed To Make A New Work
The Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust is delighted to have secured funding from the Gloucestershire Environmental Trust for the production of a new sculpture for the Trail, with the continued support of the Forestry Commission. Following the success of Echo by Annie Cattrell, launched last summer, David Cotterrell has been commissioned to begin his research for a new work, which will open to the public summer 2010. The research period is supported by the Forest of Dean District Council and Arts Council England.
“David is an installation artist working across varied media including video, audio, interactive media, artificial intelligence, device control and hybrid technology. His work exhibits political, social and behavioural analyses of the environments and contexts, which he and his work inhabit.” Most recently, after two years of negotiations between the Wellcome Trust, Imperial War Museum and Ministry of Defence, he was invited to observe the Joint Forces Medical Group at Camp Bastion in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. The outcome was a body of photographic and video work, reflecting upon the time lost between injury on the front-line and the awakening of the patient some hours later in a UK hospital. Earlier works include creating the Saltley Geyser - an inexplicable ‘geyser’ in the middle of a Birmingham suburb - which from May to August daily shot 500 litres of water in a column 30 metres high, drawing people out from their houses to meet and share the experience. His plans for the Forest are likely to include landscaping, but that may change as his research progresses. Cotterrell is intrigued by the ex-industrial landscape of the forest, seeing it as “one of choreographed and manipulated tranquillity and contemplation.” Cotterrell is considering the use of ‘gabions’, used for military and land fortification, which he saw in Afghanistan. “I would like to investigate construction techniques, which could provide a structural addition designed to be readily appropriated by the forest environment and a platform to consider the contradictions between human manipulation of landscape and the natural passage of time.”
David Cotterrell website
Echo by Annie Cattrell
Echo 2008
Annie Cattrell’s first public artwork, Echo is the most recent addition to the Sculpture Trail. Hyper-real and hyper-virtual, it is absolutely landscape and absolutely not landscape. Cast from 310 million year old rocks, it evokes a sense of the subterranean - touch it and discover the detail with your fingertips.
Echo celebrates the life of Jeremy Rees, one of the Sculpture Trail founders, as well as our 21st anniversary.
The Forest of Dean is one of the most ancient and beautiful woodland areas in the country, with a fascinating history. The Sculpture Trail is a fantastic way of exploring the area as well as to gain an understanding of its industrial past.Previously an area of mine-workings, the forest has been transformed by sculptures made by international artists, including David Nash, Cornelia Parker, Ian Hamilton-Finlay and Neville Gabie. The artworks provide a unique encounter with site-specific sculpture in a wonderful forest environment. The Forest of Dean Sculpture Trust also host temporary events on the Trail, alongside commissioning new sculptures and working with communities.
22 years ago a vision by Martin Orrom sparked off the process - read it here
Archive videos of our high-attendance after dark audio & video events
