Landscaping Islands: Alex Hartley’s “Nowhereisland” and Floating Histories in Contemporary British Art
Drawing on examples of installation, film, photography, and performance, this essay explores the significance of the island theme in contemporary British art. Focusing on Alex Hartley’s Nowhereisland, a floating construction that travelled from the Arctic to the south coast of England during the 201...
Published in: | British Art Studies |
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Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
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Yale University
2018
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Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-10/gperry https://doaj.org/article/24883eb656774b0b9b548042d78384a8 |
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fttriple:oai:gotriple.eu:oai:doaj.org/article:24883eb656774b0b9b548042d78384a8 2023-05-15T15:05:38+02:00 Landscaping Islands: Alex Hartley’s “Nowhereisland” and Floating Histories in Contemporary British Art Gill Perry 2018-12-01 https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-10/gperry https://doaj.org/article/24883eb656774b0b9b548042d78384a8 en eng Yale University doi:10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-10/gperry 2058-5462 https://doaj.org/article/24883eb656774b0b9b548042d78384a8 undefined British Art Studies, Iss 10 (2018) Alex Hartley Robert Morris Katrina Palmer Lucy Orta Rachel Whiteread contemporary art fine art art history british art landscape art hist Journal Article https://vocabularies.coar-repositories.org/resource_types/c_6501/ 2018 fttriple https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-10/gperry 2023-01-22T19:29:24Z Drawing on examples of installation, film, photography, and performance, this essay explores the significance of the island theme in contemporary British art. Focusing on Alex Hartley’s Nowhereisland, a floating construction that travelled from the Arctic to the south coast of England during the 2012 Olympics, it considers several recent island projects and how these contribute not only to aesthetic and visual culture, but also to an understanding of wider political and cultural issues. Nowhereisland challenged many themes and tropes, not only of nationhood, mobility, and “islandness”, but also of the relationship of place to landscape. As a mobile, participatory, and transitory sculpted landscape, Hartley’s floating island undermines any sense of landscape being apparently “natural” or fixed. The essay explores both the pre-history of Hartley’s floating project and the significance of the creative potential and contemporary relevance of the broader island theme in contemporary multimedia and sculptural practice in Britain, drawing upon works by Katrina Palmer, Lucy Orta, and Rachel Whiteread. Article in Journal/Newspaper Arctic Unknown Arctic Orta ENVELOPE(6.658,6.658,62.783,62.783) British Art Studies 10 |
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fttriple |
language |
English |
topic |
Alex Hartley Robert Morris Katrina Palmer Lucy Orta Rachel Whiteread contemporary art fine art art history british art landscape art hist |
spellingShingle |
Alex Hartley Robert Morris Katrina Palmer Lucy Orta Rachel Whiteread contemporary art fine art art history british art landscape art hist Gill Perry Landscaping Islands: Alex Hartley’s “Nowhereisland” and Floating Histories in Contemporary British Art |
topic_facet |
Alex Hartley Robert Morris Katrina Palmer Lucy Orta Rachel Whiteread contemporary art fine art art history british art landscape art hist |
description |
Drawing on examples of installation, film, photography, and performance, this essay explores the significance of the island theme in contemporary British art. Focusing on Alex Hartley’s Nowhereisland, a floating construction that travelled from the Arctic to the south coast of England during the 2012 Olympics, it considers several recent island projects and how these contribute not only to aesthetic and visual culture, but also to an understanding of wider political and cultural issues. Nowhereisland challenged many themes and tropes, not only of nationhood, mobility, and “islandness”, but also of the relationship of place to landscape. As a mobile, participatory, and transitory sculpted landscape, Hartley’s floating island undermines any sense of landscape being apparently “natural” or fixed. The essay explores both the pre-history of Hartley’s floating project and the significance of the creative potential and contemporary relevance of the broader island theme in contemporary multimedia and sculptural practice in Britain, drawing upon works by Katrina Palmer, Lucy Orta, and Rachel Whiteread. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Gill Perry |
author_facet |
Gill Perry |
author_sort |
Gill Perry |
title |
Landscaping Islands: Alex Hartley’s “Nowhereisland” and Floating Histories in Contemporary British Art |
title_short |
Landscaping Islands: Alex Hartley’s “Nowhereisland” and Floating Histories in Contemporary British Art |
title_full |
Landscaping Islands: Alex Hartley’s “Nowhereisland” and Floating Histories in Contemporary British Art |
title_fullStr |
Landscaping Islands: Alex Hartley’s “Nowhereisland” and Floating Histories in Contemporary British Art |
title_full_unstemmed |
Landscaping Islands: Alex Hartley’s “Nowhereisland” and Floating Histories in Contemporary British Art |
title_sort |
landscaping islands: alex hartley’s “nowhereisland” and floating histories in contemporary british art |
publisher |
Yale University |
publishDate |
2018 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-10/gperry https://doaj.org/article/24883eb656774b0b9b548042d78384a8 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(6.658,6.658,62.783,62.783) |
geographic |
Arctic Orta |
geographic_facet |
Arctic Orta |
genre |
Arctic |
genre_facet |
Arctic |
op_source |
British Art Studies, Iss 10 (2018) |
op_relation |
doi:10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-10/gperry 2058-5462 https://doaj.org/article/24883eb656774b0b9b548042d78384a8 |
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op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.17658/issn.2058-5462/issue-10/gperry |
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British Art Studies |
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10 |
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