Seminar and Workshop History

We have been running national and international seminars, workshops, and conferences since the mid 1990’s. Our early efforts focused on post-industrial public space and the artist’s role in planning. More recently, we have been involved in thinking about the future form of Caledonian Forests in Scotland, post-industrial shale oil mounds in East Lothian, and a new discursive form of aesthetic assessment. Workshops were held at Mar Lodge and Abernethy. We have publications underway on both projects, which we will link to once they are published.

One of our notable seminar series was the BINGS Seminar, which focused on the legacy of John Latham. A group of experts assembled to consider a cluster of three post-industrial shale oil bings. The seminar explored the bings as an artwork, its positive and negative aesthetic value, its role as a living landscape and ecosystem, and its potential as a national heritage site. By embracing an interdisciplinary approach, we aimed to understand how competing meanings reveal, complement, or overshadow historic judgments, current perceptions, and future values.

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.

The ‘There is Work…..’ video from the interdisciplinary seminar focused on the meaning, form and function of the shale oil bings, that are just east of Edinburgh Scotland.

FUTURE FORESTS – Abernethy

Another notable project we have been working on is Future Forests. In 2013, we began exploring the social and cultural aspects of Caledonian pine forests. Our 2017 Future Forest workshop on aesthetics and ethical experiences was conducted in relationship to the Abernethy National Nature Reserve in Scotland; owned by Scottish Natural Heritage and managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. It is a mix of ancient and regenerating Caledonian forest, with significant moorlands, wetlands and mountains. Abernethy is one of the most significant of six ancient forests that cover more than 1000hectares in Scotland. The workshop was run with support from Creative Scotland, the University of Aberdeen, and Creative Carbon Scotland. The goal was to bring together artists, scientists, teachers, and forest managers to discuss the future of these ancient forests.