Essay and Audio Piece: Scotland + Venice Exhibition - A Fragile Correspondence
A Fragile Correspondence
The exhibition A Fragile Correspondence is one of the eight collateral events for the 18th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia at the Arsenale Docks, S. Pietro di Castello, Venice. Commissioned by the Scotland + Venice partnership and curated by the Architecture Fringe, -ism, and /other, A Fragile Correspondence responds to Biennale curator Lesley Lokko’s theme of The Laboratory of the Future by exploring the nuances connections between land, language and the climate emergency.
“From the forests around Loch Ness, the seashore of the Orkney archipelago and the industrialised remnants of the Ravenscraig steelworks, the project takes us on a journey through three Scottish landscapes: the Highlands, Islands and Lowlands. In bringing forward the diversity of cultures and languages that have shaped the landscapes of Scotland, A Fragile Correspondence explores alternative perspectives and new approaches to the challenges of the worldwide climate emergency.
Our existence relies on a close relationship with the landscapes that sustain us. Our understanding of the natural world around us is fragile. Language is powerful and shapes how we understand the world around us. How can a closer relationship between land and language help architecture be more attuned to the environment in which it operates? How can we create a more reciprocal connection with the land?
Informed by a close reading of contemporary context, past echoes and the critical lenses of language, anthropology and extraction, writers, artists and architects - in correspondence with these landscapes - are exploring issues distinctly rooted in place, but with global relevance to the cultural, ecological and climatic issues that we face.”
Forest Landscapes North and South of Loch Ness
Who owns land, and why? The forest landscapes to the north and south of Loch Ness are our context for reflecting upon how we see and use land, exploring alternative forms of ownership.
With the Highlands as the genesis for modern, romanticised world tourism, how does internationalised capital and commercial extraction affect the biodiversity, cultural identity and environmental sustainability of the land in a local context? Through the lens of trees, forests and folklore, as well as the Gaelic language, A Fragile Correspondence seeks to explore some of these questions.
As an invited local collaborator alongside Raghnaid Sandilands and Dele Adeyemo, I contributed an audio piece and an accompanying essay inviting reflection on the possibilities of collective land stewardship for ecological and social renewal.
You can listen to the audio piece and read the essay below.
