Invitation to propose a contribution to our GLADE exhibit

"You don't have to tell the truth"

Beyond the Walls project by Heather Defferary and John Corfield

We are inviting you to make a proposal for a contribution to the exhibit, “You do not have to tell the truth”, that we are planning to create in a rural location in a piece of woodland (the end of John’s garden, in Bridge) as our BTW project.

We plan to integrate the contributions from a number of invited artists (students from KIAD) to form a single coherent exhibit.

The exhibit will be viewed by an invited audience on a single occasion (probably Sunday morning on 9th May). The visitors will be drawn from those artists in the village of Bridge who have contributed work to the Art in Bridge Open exhibitions over the last three years (there are well over 100, but we cannot invite them all as we have to limit numbers to about 30 – 40 to protect the site). They will be invited to meet at a specified time (11.00am?) near the site but not in sight of it. From there they will be lead on a short walk on a public footpath to the exhibit site and enter the wood to see the work. In return for the opportunity to view the work the visitors will be asked to provide critical feedback (in a visitors book) on their reactions. We also plan to photograph the exhibit as evidence of its transient existence.

The site consists of a fairly mature wood with little under-storey and tall trees, including - beech, sycamore, hawthorn, silver birch, ash, elm, yew, holly, elder, spindle. It is a small area of about ¼ acre but it is part of long narrow strip of woodland. There is a certain amount of fallen wood and some scrap building material in the wood that can be used.

We are definitely not looking for stand-alone exhibits mounted on plinths. We are hoping for site specific contributions which use the trees and the site in imaginative but non-damaging ways. The trees may certainly be used to mount work and the use of wire/cord tied to the trees is quite acceptable – the floor of the wood may be used with little restriction. However it is essential that after the exhibit is removed there should be as little damage to the trees as possible. The contributions will need to be installed on the day before or early on the morning of the viewing.

You are invited to make a proposal of what you would wish to contribute. This is to be done on the clear understanding that you will not be upset should we decide that your contribution is not what we can use. Likewise we cannot be bound by your wish to use a specific part or parts of the wood – you cannot stake claim to any particular position or materials – though we will try our best to meet your wishes.

We reserve the right to determine all aspects of the work in our attempt to use your contribution as part of the single resulting exhibit.

We have some photographs of the site and you are very welcome to visit it, just contact Heather on 01227 832710 or John on 01227 830976.

We look forward to receiving your proposal as soon as possible before 1st April.

Heather Defferary and John Corfield