As guests of curatorial / critic duo Maja and Reuben Fowkes Translocal, Karen Guthrie & Adam Sutherland visit Budapest in Hungary.
Adam's talk as part of their symposium 'Sustainability and Contemporary Art: Exit or Activism?' on Grizedale Arts' work forms today's webcast.

Posted by Karen Guthrie on 29/02/08 at 10:29 : 0 Comments

Here's a weird famous Scottish Footballers garden

The weather forecast for the weekend was 6 below and 60 cms of snow, by rights we should have cancelled, but knowing the forecasters propensity for overstating in case they are critisised for understating, we pushed on regardless.

The crew of artists on the China project came and ‘enjoyed’ tree planting in a light snowfall and moderate temperatures - above freezing. They stayed at Parkamoor but did complain of cold. I guess contemporary clothing is just not geared up for cold, damp conditions. I usually suffer from being too hot, tweed and wool is just too much in the heated environment. There is no way people will ever be able to go back from the level of heating that is now the norm. I noticed this recently while staying with friends, their house was full of eco stuff, they had carbon offsetting coming out of all ends. Each year they were planting 6 tiny trees which the label proclaimed would offset an average family’s carbon output. That might have been true but it would be 10 years before they jointly offset more than an average families wind breaking. And all this stuff is as nothing if you have your entire house heated to 24 degrees as they did.
My recent experience with central heating (I have moved to a central heated house while Lawson Pk is under the builders) has helped me realise a lot about contemporary society. I realise that central heating is the cause of sloth, anger and dysfunctional behaviour. It is impossible to get the temperature right, the non directional nature of it causes the background temperature to inexorably rise, this terrible heat means that if you do anything more than just sit in your vest and pants you become bad tempered. The rise in the divorce rate is - I now realise closely linked to the development of central heating.

All that aside, the team managed 80 metres of excellent hedging (200 small trees) which should in time cover them all for a flight half way round the world.

Posted by Adam Sutherland on 27/02/08 at 14:13 : 0 Comments

Deputy Director Master Hudson talks about Creative Egremont quite a lot - the Greasy Pole, the Community Orchard etc. Adam outlines his plans for world domination by running as a Coniston Parish Councillor soon.

Posted by Karen Guthrie on 22/02/08 at 10:22 : 0 Comments

Children of Grizedale's new Youtube channel has been offering some technical challenges / professional development opportunities (delete as preferred) to Adam lately as he grapples with years of unlabelled tape and a tenuous grasp of iMovie, to bring you rarities from the Grizedale archive.

There's some fantastic stuff going up - witness the spine tingler from 2004's Romantic Detachment'....

Posted by Karen Guthrie on 21/02/08 at 22:55 : 0 Comments

In this week's show on Friday 15th from 4pm - 5pm:
David Johnson of Coniston, former farmer and milkman, will be talking about the history of local farming, how and why to lay a hedge, and the cool new solar panels on his B & B.

Posted by Karen Guthrie on 14/02/08 at 15:08 : 0 Comments

Hayley Skipper is the Forestry Commission's New Arts Development Officer in Grizedale Forest Centre - she joins us to chat about what its like to move up here from fashionable London and have to wear a FC fleecy, and how and why to keep the old Grizedale sculptures in good nick.

Karen introduces the Lawson Park Collection and Lisa updates us on whether the building is still standing or if the webcam is a hoax.

Alistair reads from the local media: a copy of the Whitehaven News 1902, found in the Lawson Park walls.

And Karen talks about gardening. Again.

Posted by Karen Guthrie on 08/02/08 at 13:10 : 0 Comments