Books, articles, chapters, reports and exhibition catalogues by Tim Collins and Reiko Goto Collins, 1991–2025. Where a work has a DOI it is linked; most chapters and articles are also available here as PDFs (linked titles).
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2020s 9
2025
Thornhill, I., Bayley, A., Collins, T., Goto, R., et al. (2025) “Natural soundscapes as a disciplinary bridge in pursuit of sustainability: research themes and priorities.” In Ecosystems and People, 21(1), 2571450. Open access.
Published in Ecosystems and People. Reports on the “Ecotones: Soundscapes of Trees” research network, which brought around 30 scientists, artists and practitioners together in workshops in South Korea and the UK in 2022. Sets out how natural soundscapes connect science and art, and their role in health, environmental empathy and sustainability, and identifies priorities for future research.
2025
Fremantle, C., Vergunst, J., et al., with Collins, T. and Goto Collins, R. (2025) “What do indeterminacy and uncertainty mean in landscape research? Perspectives from natural sciences, social sciences, and arts.” In Landscape Research, 51(5).
2024
Collins, T., Goto Collins, R. (2024) “HAKOTO: Portach | Bog, and Artificial-Bog-Intelligence.” In Landscape, Ecology & Environment Research Residency (LEER) Report. Ed. Sean O’Reilly. Leitrim Sculpture Centre, Manorhamilton, Ireland.
2023
Collins, T. (2023) “Environmental Artworkers.” In Field: The Journal of Socially Engaged Art Criticism, Winter Issue 23. Ed. Grant Kester. Special Issue on Newton and Helen Mayer Harrison, Editor Tatiana Sizoenenko. University of California at San Diego.
Published in Field: The Journal of Socially Engaged Art Criticism, in a special issue on Newton and Helen Mayer Harrison. Examines the concept of “artworking” — a practice-based, process-driven engagement with ecological systems that differs from both traditional artistic production and environmental activism. Drawing on the Harrisons’ model of interrelationship with more-than-human otherness and Grant Kester’s framework of discursive engagement, reciprocity, and empathic exchange, Collins argues for environmental art practice grounded in long-term commitment, ethical attention, and what he calls the “radical environmental artworking model.”
2023
Goto Collins, R. (2023) “Listening to The Web of Life: empathy, dual reality, capacity for experience, and working with a horse.” In Field: The Journal of Socially Engaged Art Criticism, Winter Issue 23. Ed. Grant Kester. Special Issue on Newton and Helen Mayer Harrison, Editor Tatiana Sizoenenko. University of California at San Diego.
2023
Collins, T., Goto Collins, R. (2023) “Ancient boglands and the Irish Peat Industry: Does Culture Mitigate Ecocide?” In Rethinking Art and Creativity in an Era of Ecocide: Embodiment, Performance and Practice. Eds, Jones, O., Parry, B., Pigott, A., London, UK: Bloomsbury Press, Arts and Visual Culture.
Examines the relationship between Ireland’s industrial peat extraction history and the cultural values embedded in bogland landscapes. Asks whether artistic and cultural engagement with peatlands can shift public understanding enough to counteract ongoing ecological destruction — and what “ecocide” means in the context of a landscape that has been both exploited and culturally cherished for centuries.
2022
Goto, R. Collins, T. (May 2022) “Horse, Empathy and Sign: becoming a part of the Houyhnhnm’s environment.” In Arts, Special Issue. Eds. Catarina Silva Lebre Elias, H., Cruzeiro, C, Douglas, A., Madeira, C., Basel, Switzerland: MDPI Publishing
A phenomenological account of long-term artistic engagement with a horse named Darkness, exploring what it means to develop an empathic relationship with a non-human animal through sustained observation, documentation, and dialogue. Draws on the philosophy of Edith Stein and Charles Sanders Peirce to examine how signs, gestures, and shared attention can bridge the perceptual gap between species.
2022
Collins, T., Goto Collins, R. (2022) “Art and Aesthetics: A Deliberative Approach in Scottish Forests.” In Geffen, A., Rosenthal, A., Fremantle, C. and Rahmani, A. (eds) Ecoart in Action: Activities, Case Studies, and Provocations for Classrooms and Communities, pp. 147–152. New York: New Village Press.
2020
Collins, T., Goto Collins, R. (2020) Deep Mapping: Lough Boora Sculpture Park. Offaly Tullamore, Ireland; Offaly County Council.
Commissioned by Offaly County Council and Bord na Móna, this book applies deep mapping — described by the authors as “an attempt to become conscious of a place and its multiple layers of experience, meaning and value” — to an Irish sculpture park built on cutaway peatlands. The book traces the land through six value shifts: from local peat extraction, to open grazing resource, to “national wasteland” targeted for drainage, to industrial energy source, to biodiversity refuge, to carbon sequestration asset. It opens with an 1846 parliamentary debate on Irish “waste lands” and moves through the industrial history of Bord na Móna, the ecology of raised bogs and sphagnum moss, and the 20-year history of sculpture at Lough Boora.
2010s 17
2019
Collins, T., Goto Collins, R. (2019) Plein Air: The Breath of Trees. Exhibition Catalogue. Glasgow, Scotland: Collins & Goto Studio.
Exhibition catalogue documenting the PLEIN AIR instrument project — a sculptural tool that measures photosynthesis, transpiration, and carbon exchange in trees, translating the data into sound. Introduces the concept of “sonic elucidation” as an artistic methodology for making the metabolic life of trees perceptible to human audiences.
2019
Collins, T., McLean, R., Collins, R.G. (2019) There is a Work in the interpretation of the Work in the Journal for Visual Art Practice, (Vol 18 – 2019, Issue 3) Pp. 221-237. Abingdon: Taylor and Francis.
Reflects on an interdisciplinary seminar focused on the meaning, form, and function of Scotland’s shale oil bings — industrial waste landforms that have become accidental heritage sites. Examines how artistic interpretation can reframe industrial remnants as cultural landscapes worthy of conservation and public attention.
2019
Collins, T., Goto, R.G., Malcolm, C, Dietzler, G. (2019) Plein Air | Sylva Datum Musica. Frankfurt, Germany: Gruenrekorder.
2018
Goto Collins, R., Collins, T. (2018) “The Black Wood: Relations, Empathy and a Feeling of Oneness in Caledonian Pine Forests.” In Arts, Religion, and the Environment. Eds. Bergmann and Clingerman, Leiden, Netherlands: Brill Rodopi.
Explores the experience of empathy within an ancient Caledonian pine forest, asking how artistic practice can foster a sense of connection — even “oneness” — with a non-human ecological community. Draws on phenomenology and the concept of Einfühlung (feeling-into) to describe how sustained presence in a forest changes the artist’s perception of self and environment.
2017
Collins, T., Goto Collins, R., Edwards, D. (2017) A Critical Forest Art Practice. In Landscape Research Journal (Vol. 43 #2). Abingdon: Taylor and Francis.
Published in Landscape Research. The Black Wood of Rannoch is ecologically robust but culturally impoverished — its management has been defined almost exclusively by biodiversity conservation since 1974, and the cultural content one would expect in relationship to a historically important remnant forest is largely missing. This article documents how artists Collins and Goto, working with Forest Research social scientist David Edwards, used residencies, community dialogue, and a deliberative workshop to recover the cultural ecology of an ancient forest.
2017
Edwards, D., Collins, T., Goto Collins, R. (2017) An arts-led dialogue to elicit shared, plural and cultural values of ecosystems. In Ecosystem Services 21 (2016) 319–328, Special Session on Cultural Ecosystem Services: Frontiers in Theory and Practice, Ed. Kenter, J. Netherlands: Elsevier Publications.
Published in Ecosystem Services (Elsevier) as part of a special session on Cultural Ecosystem Services. Introduces arts-led dialogue as a critical alternative to the prevailing instrumental and deliberative approaches to environmental valuation. Unlike standard ecosystem service assessments that seek closure on pre-determined problems, arts-led dialogue explores a subject in original, challenging, and provocative ways, questioning the truth claims of any single discipline. The Black Wood of Rannoch project serves as the primary case study.
2017
Goto Collins, R., Collins, T. (2017) “Imagination and Empathy – Artists with Trees.” In Participatory Research in More-than-Human Worlds. Eds. Bastian, M., Jones, O., Roe, E. Oxon, UK: Taylor and Francis.
Addresses the question of how artists can conduct meaningful research with and about non-human living systems. Positions imagination and empathy as core research methods — not supplementary to scientific inquiry, but operating in parallel, generating knowledge that scientific methods cannot access. Contributes to the emerging field of more-than-human participatory research.
2016
Collins, T., Goto, Collins, R. (2016) “Defining a Practice: With Reflection on Sylva Caledonia.” In Elemental: An Arts and Ecology Reader, Brady, J., Ed. Liverpool UK: Gaia Press
A self-reflective account of how Collins and Goto’s practice evolved through their engagement with Scotland’s Caledonian forests. Defines the key principles of their approach — site-conditioned work, deep dialogue, interdisciplinary collaboration — and positions the Sylva Caledonia exhibition as a case study in how artistic practice generates new understanding of ecological systems.
2016
Edwards, D. Goto Collins, R., (2016)“Does the Conservation Status of a Caledonian Forest also Indicate Cultural Ecosystem Value?” In Bio Cultural Diversity in Europe. Ed. Agnoletti, M. of the University of Firenze, Italy. London: Springer-Verlag.
The Black Wood of Rannoch is culturally important as a location for aesthetic and spiritual experience, artistic inspiration, biocultural heritage, and a sense of identity — but its management since 1974 has focused almost exclusively on biodiversity conservation. This chapter asks whether a forest’s conservation status also indicates its cultural ecosystem value, and finds that the two do not necessarily align.
2015
Collins, T., Goto Collins, R., Edwards, D. (2015) Future Forest: The Blackwood, Rannoch Scotland. Oxford and Roslin: Landscape Research Group Press and Forest Research.
The primary publication documenting a year-long creative enquiry into the Black Wood of Rannoch — one of only six ancient native Caledonian forests exceeding 1,000 hectares. The centrepiece was a two-day Future Forest workshop that brought conservationists, foresters, humanities scholars, local residents, and artists into structured conversation about the forest’s past, present, and possible futures. The report argues that a “diverse social and cultural ecology is needed to express a forest’s full value and meaning.”
2014
Collins, T., Goto Collins, R., Edwards, D. (2014) “A Case Study: Forest Futures, Kinloch Rannoch: Artistic engagement, interviews, deliberations and social learning to reveal hidden cultural values” in, the UK National Ecosystems Assessment Follow-on, Shared Plural and Cultural Values: A Handbook for DecisionMakers. Eds Kenter, J., Reed, M. et al. Cambridge: UNEP-WCMC
Contributed to the UK National Ecosystem Assessment Follow-on as a case study in how arts-led dialogue can reveal hidden cultural values in forest ecosystems. Describes the methodology — structured conversations between artists, scientists, foresters, and community members — and its outcomes for decision-making frameworks used by UNEP and the UK government.
2014
Collins, T., Goto Collins, R., Edwards, D. (2014) “Future Forest – Caledonian – Aware Access – Blackwood“, in Imagining Natural Scotland. Ed Griffith, D. Glasgow and Edinburgh: Creative Scotland.
2012
Collins, T (2012) Art, Imagination and Environment. In Thompson, I. Howard, P. and Waterton, E. (Eds) Companion to Landscape Studies. London: Routledge
A chapter in the Routledge Companion to Landscape Studies examining how art and imagination reshape our understanding of environmental systems. Argues that artistic practice operates as a distinct form of environmental inquiry — neither illustration nor activism, but a mode of knowledge production that complements scientific and policy approaches.
2012
Goto Collins, R. Collins, T. (2012) Art and LIVING Things – The ethical, aesthetic impulse. In Brady, E. And Phemister, P. (Eds.) Transformative Values: human environment relations in theory and practice. London: Springer-Verlag.
Tracks the evolution of a specific “ethical, aesthetic impulse” in environmental art practice — the move by artists toward nature as a context and subject for work that addresses ethical ideas and aesthetic opportunities in relationship to a changing environment. Positions the living encounter itself as the primary site of artistic meaning, drawing on phenomenological philosophy.
2011
Goto Collins, R., Collins, T. (2011) Scotland: Plein Air, Ethics and Art. Women Environmental Artists Directory Magazine, Issue 3, Border Crossings. Women Environmental Artists Directory, Berkeley, California.
2011
Ball, L., Collins, T., Goto, R., Damon, B., (2011) Environmental Art as Ecological Restoration in Egan, D., Hjerpe, E.E., Abrams, J.,(Eds.) Human Dimensions of Ecological Restoration: Integrating Science, Nature and Culture. Washington: Island Press.
2010
Collins, T. (2010) 3 Rivers 2nd Nature 2000-2005, Water, Land & Dialogue. In Carney, L.S., And Pageot, E-A, In a special issue on Landscape, Cultural Spaces, Ecology. RACAR, Revue d’art Canadienne / Canadian Art Review, Vol 35 Issue 3. Arnprior, ON: Canada Universities Art Association of Canada.
Documents 3 Rivers 2nd Nature (2000–2005), a five-year artist-initiated research project examining the aesthetic form, function, and values underpinning the meaning of nature in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania — with Pittsburgh at its centre. Published in a special issue on Landscape, Cultural Spaces, and Ecology in the Canadian Art Review, it serves as a comprehensive case study in how arts-led environmental dialogue operates at an urban scale within America’s post-industrial landscape.
2000s 18
2008
Collins, T. (2008) Can or Should Artists Attempt to Create Verifiable Change? In O’Reilly, S., Beauchamp, P. (Eds.) Sense in Place, Site-ations International. Cardiff, Wales: Centre for Research in art and Design, University of Wales Institute Cardiff, and Dublin: Dublin Institute of Technology DIT, Ireland.
2008
Tarr, J, Muller, T. and Collins, T. (2008) Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers From Industrial to Environmental Infrastructure. In Mauch, C. and Zeller, T. (Eds.) Rivers in History: Designing and Conceiving Waterways in Europe and North America. Pittsburgh: University of Pittsburgh Press. The article was subsequently reprinted at the request of the editors in: Mohl, R. and Biles, R. (2012) The Making of Urban America. Maryland: Rowan and Littlefield.
2008
Collins, T. (2008) Art Nature and Aesthetics in the Post Industrial Public Realm. In France, R. (Ed.) Healing Nature, Repairing Relationships: Restoring Ecological Spaces and Consciousness. Chicago, ILL: Green Frigate Books.
2007
Collins, T. (2007) Art, Environment and Ecology: within a changing social and environmental context. In Channeling Herbert: earthworks. artworks. public works, Curator/Editor Cheryl dos Remédios. Washington, US: Cultural Division City of Kent.
2007
Collins, T. (2007) Catalytic Aesthetics. In the publication from the conference, Artful Ecologies, Falmouth: University College Falmouth.
2007
Goto, R. (2007) “3 Rivers 2nd Nature / Groundworks.” In Artful Ecologies: Art, Nature & Environment Conference 2006, pp. 35–43. Falmouth: University College Falmouth.
2006
Collins, T. Kline, J. Vallianos, K. Fox, C. et al (2006) Ecology and Recovery: Allegheny County, Final Report, Pittsburgh PA: STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, Carnegie Mellon University. (Executive Summary)
2005
Collins, T. and Goto, R. (2005) An Ecological Context. In Miles, M. (Ed.) New Practices/New Pedagogies: Emerging Contexts, Practices and Pedagogies in Europe and North America. Lisse, Netherlands: Swets and Zeitlinger.
2005
Goto, R. and Collins, T. (2005) Mapping Social and Ecological Practices. In Miles, M. (Ed.) New Practices/New Pedagogies: Emerging Contexts, Practices and Pedagogies in Europe and North America. Lisse, Netherlands: Swets and Zeitlinger.
2004
Collins, T. Farber, S. Fox, C. Goto, R. Perkins Eastman Architects et al (2004) An Ecological and Physical Investigation of Pittsburgh’s Hillside. (Report to the City of Pittsburgh Hillsides Committee). Pittsburgh PA: STUDIO for Creative Inquiry and Perkins Eastman Architects with Allegheny Land Trust.
2004
Collins, T. (2004) Aesthetic Diversity. In Strelow, H. David, V., (Eds.) Herman Prigann – Ecological Aesthetics: Theoretical Practice of Artistic Environmental Design. Berlin, Germany: Berkhäuser Verlag, AG.
2003
Collins, T. (2003) Lyrical Expression, Critical Engagement, Transformative Action: An Introduction to Art and the Environment. Community arts network: Reading Room, Arts and the Environment [online]. Burnham, L. (Ed.), [cited 22nd February 2007]. Accessed via Community Arts Network at: <http://www.communityarts.net/readingroom/archivefiles/2003/06/lyrical_express.php> (Subsequently translated into German) Lyrischer Ausdruck, Kritisches Engagement, Transformative Aktion. Hagia Chora Magazine, #17, 1/2004. Germany: Dietzenbach. pp. 14-19. (Translated into French), Expression Lyrique, Engagement Critique, Action Transformatrice : une Introduction à l’Art et à l’Environnement. In Ecologie et Politique, #36, June 2008,Éditions Syllepse.France: Paris) pp. 127-153.
2003
Collins, T. and Goto, R. (2003) Art, Landscape, Ecology and Change. In Hall, T. and Miles, M. (Ed.) Urban Futures. London: Routledge.
2003
Collins, T. (2003) Postindustrielle Landschaft-Nine Mile Run: Interventions in the Rust Belt: The Art and Ecology of Post-Industrial Public Space. In Genske, G.D. and Hauser, S . (Ed.) Die Brache als Chance:Eing Transdisziplinarer Dialog Uber Verbrauchte Flachen. Berlin, Germany: Springer-Verlag.
2002
Collins, T. (2002) 3 Rivers – 2nd Nature the River Dialogues. In Bennet S. and Butler, J. (Ed.) Recoveries and Reclamations, Exeter: University of Plymouth, Bristol: Intellect Publishing.
2002
Collins, T. (2002) Conversations in the Rust Belt. In Herzogenrath, B. (Ed.) From Virgin Land to Disney World: Nature and Its Discontents in the America of Yesterday and Today. Amsterdam and Atlanta: and Rodopi.
2002
Pinkham, R. and Collins, T. (2002) Post-Industrial Watersheds: Retrofits and restorative redevelopment (Pittsburgh Pennsylvania). In France, R.L. (Ed.) The Handbook of Water Sensitive Planning and Design. London, New York, Washington D.C.: Lewis Publishers.
2001
Collins, T. (2001) The Rust–Belt Dialogues: An Artists Concept Model for Public Dialogue about Urban Stream Restoration. Ecological Restoration, 19(3).
1990s 6
1999
Ferguson, B., Pinkham, R. and Collins, T. (1999)Re-Evaluating Stormwater, The Nine Mile Run Model for Restorative Development. Snowmass Colorado: Rocky Mountain Institute. (Technical Appendix)
1999
Collins, T., Dzombak, D., Rawlins, J., and Tamminga, K., Thompson, S. (1999) Nine Mile Run Watershed, Rivers Conservation Plan. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: PA Dept of Conservation and Natural Resources.
1998
Collins, T. and Savage, K. (1998) Learning to See Assets as Well as Liabilities, opportunities as Well as Constraints. Public Work, Management and Policy, 2(3), pp. 210-219
1998
Bingham, B., Collins, T., Goto, R., and Stephen, J. (1998) Ample Opportunity: A Community Dialogue. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: STUDIO for Creative Inquiry, Carnegie Mellon University.
1993
Collins, T., Goto, R., Barnes, R., and Yuen, S. (1993) Aqua Pura (V. Trostle, V. and J. Redensek ed.). San Francisco California: San Francisco Art Commission and the San Francisco Department of Water.
Exhibition catalogues 8
2019
Collins, T., Goto Collins, R. (2019) Plein Air: The Breath of Trees. Exhibition Catalogue. Turchin Center for the Arts, Mayer Gallery, Appalachian University, Boone, North Carolina. Glasgow: Scotland: Collins & Goto Studio.
2017
Collins, T. and Goto, R. (2017) The Caledonian Decoy, Intermedia Gallery, The Centre for Contemporary Art. Glasgow, Scotland.
2017
Collins, T., Goto Collins, R., with Malcolm, C. (2017) PLEIN AIR Live @ the Kibble Palace, Glasgow Botanic Gardens. Booklet for the vinyl record; produced by Georg Dietzler. Glasgow: Collins & Goto Studio.
2016
Collins, T., Goto, R., Fremantle, C., Gregor, M., Loose, G. (2016) Sylva Caledonia with Gerry Loose, Morven Gregor and Chris Fremantle. Curated by James Howie and Holly Knox Yeoman. Summerhall Genotype/Phenotype gallery, Edinburgh Scotland.
2013
Collins, T., Goto Collins, R. (2013) Eden3: The Forest is Moving: Tha a’ Choille a’ Gluasad. (translation by Mhoireasdan, B.). Perth Museum and Art Gallery
2013
Collins, T. Goto Collins, R. with Malcom, C. (2013) Eden3: Trees are the Language of Landscape. Edinburgh: Tent Gallery in Art Space and Nature, University of Edinburgh.
2010
Collins, T. and Goto, R. (2010) Plein Air: The Ethical Aesthetic Impulse, Curated by Angela Lennon. Peacock Visual Arts Centre for Contemporary Art
2005
Collins, T. and Goto, R. (2005) Initiating the Groundworks Exhibition. In Kester, G. (Ed.) Groundworks: Environmental Collaboration in Contemporary Art. Pittsburgh PA: Regina Gouger Miller Gallery, Carnegie Mellon University.
Public art plans
1991
Collins, T., Farabough, L., Oppenheimer, and M., Richards, P. (1991) Art Along the Waterfront: A Guide to Opportunities for Public Artists and Public Art on the Embarcadero of San Francisco (J. Redensek ed.). Sacramento California: The California State Arts Council.