More Feasible Artwork Selections
Through discussions in the Week 5 lecture and tutorial, I realized I needed to select more practical artworks. This means my artists must be students from Edinburgh College of Art, along with other art students and emerging artists. Therefore, I chose the following works as affordable exhibition options. Their common theme is “art design transforming rural areas rather than industrial production.” For instance, Intelligent Wilderness seeks to reestablish the balance between human agriculture and wilderness within the ruins of industrial legacies. The specific works to be selected will depend on the Science Gallery’s venue conditions.
Works That Raise Questions:
Yuhang Liu: Concrete Bamboo[1]
This artwork was created by a young artist from the Tsinghua University Academy of Fine Arts as part of the China Anji Yu Village Youth Co-creation Project.
Works Focused on Problem-Solving:
1. For Rural Tourism
Fangyuan Zheng: Alness Memorial Geopark Sequence[2]
This is a graduation project by a student from the Landscape Architecture program at ECA. Her design, Rendering of runway wetland park, represents an excellent measure I believe could be implemented in coastal rural areas worldwide to both entertain local residents and attract tourism. It offers a tangible solution to the problem I have identified: outward-focused tourism development that fails to align with the daily needs of local residents. I propose displaying her work—with permission—as an archival piece within the exhibition stand or cabinet.
2. For Industrial Legacy Wastelands
Kate Saldanha: Intelligent Wilderness[3]
This is also a graduation project by a Landscape Architecture student. The student examines how agricultural areas become wastelands after industrial impact and seeks solutions. It both identifies problems and proposes solutions. He visited The Cromarty Firth, Invergordon Town, and Cromlet Brownfield, aiming to achieve mutual benefit between agriculture and wilderness through the project. I hope to print his work with authorization and display it as a dense series of images on a wall.
3. Agriculture and Nature (with Souvenir Sales)
Sara Dobbs: Cooped . Farmed . Displayed[4]
This is the graduation project of an ECA Painting undergraduate. I will also present these works as a series on the wall. With her permission, I can transform the patterns from her work into items like scarves and ornaments, donating the proceeds to rural communities in urgent need of development.
[1] “艺向山川——清华大学美术学院2023安吉青年艺术创作营成果展”启幕-清华大学美术学院
Comprising two parts, the lower section depicts a familiar “landscape” of China’s urbanization process—concrete-poured columns—while the upper section features a tall, slender bamboo stalk crafted from welded metal. In other words, it presents a natural landscape constructed by human industry. The contrast and conflict between this industrial feel and nature make the work thought-provoking, expressing the artist's reflection and questioning of the drawbacks exposed in the urbanization process of rural areas under the influence of industrial civilization.
[2] Fangyuan Zheng | Edinburgh College of Art Graduate Show 2021
[3] Kate Saldanha | Edinburgh College of Art Graduate Show 2021
[4] Sara Dobbs | Edinburgh College of Art Graduate Show 2021
She explores the intersection of patterns in food systems and art. She considered patterns within food systems, how communities form around food, and how artistic production mirrors patterns in farming, fishing, hunting, and foraging.
