BAN RESEARCH BRITISH LANDSCAPES

Landscape Research Group Co-Leads Jenny Gaschke (Bristol Museum & Art Gallery), Helen Record (Royal Academy of Arts) and Emma Roodhouse (Colchester and Ipswich Museums) reflect on the group’s activities over the last year

The last year has marked a shift, for professional and private lives. For the Landscape Research Group – and likely for many other research groups – this shift has generated new opportunities but also new challenges...

Established in 2017, the Landscape Research Group (LRG) began as a small collective of museum professionals and researchers based largely in regional collections, all with a common passion for British landscape art. The group spent time sharing projects between members in intimate, informal study days, and the subjects were mostly historical, with more traditional approaches to British landscape from the 18th and 19th centuries.

Cue the pandemic, and this all changed. Gone were the opportunities for behind-the-scenes visits to members’ organisations, the chances to chat and share research over a cup of coffee. In their place were novel, unexpected and expansive opportunities offered by a transition to the virtual environment. We found that Zoom events enabled us to reach new audiences; to organise focussed, thematic seminars; to hold an increased number and variety of events than ever before. But of course, we have encountered new challenges too. The following are just a few examples of the positive impacts of a Zoom-reliant network, as well as the inherent difficulties.

The first tentative forays into the virtual world last summer saw the LRG meeting over Zoom – an online permutation of the in-person coffee-break. A dozen or so faces who were familiar to each other, chatting, updating on exhibitions and research projects. It felt refreshing and opened our eyes to the spontaneous potential of Zoom; no longer did a get-together necessitate the weeks of planning required for group visits to a gallery or museum. This informality and ease of coming together online offered opportunities for novel formats for the group, reflected in our first planned events of the autumn. We held a session, with around 15-20 attendees, where Tate Liverpool curators Darren Pih and Laura Bruni presented their early ideas for a landscape exhibition and invited feedback. This ‘critique circle’ workshop was made possible by members being able to meet at the click of a button. We hope this may become a regular feature of our programme, facilitated by our Zoom literacy.

The pandemic also opened new avenues to support emerging artists and creatives. With funds left unused due to cancelled events, we were able to stage an open call for a commission for a creative response to the theme of ‘Landscape in Lockdown’. The two selected proposals, completed in November 2020, were a wonderful mixed-media installation and short film by artist and curator Siobhan McLaughlin – also a member of BAN’s Emerging Curators Group – and a reflective thought-piece by curator Kate Banner on her experiences of curating during lockdown at Worcester Museums. A real highlight of our programme, in December we hosted an informal commission presentation evening, with both Kate and Siobhan sharing their works and opening out into a wider chat among those present – with mulled wine in hand. This relaxed get-together, celebrating art and creativity, and sharing experiences of resilience during isolation, was a product of the pandemic, and allowed the research group to bridge professional and personal relationships. We have another call for commissions this year, see p. 13, below.

As we gained Zoom confidence, we turned our attention to the larger-scale, more academic-style seminars that formed the backbone of our programming. Mapping these out at the start of the funding year enabled us to target specific themes that were topical and of specific interest to our members. We were able to bring together specialist speakers from a range of backgrounds and geographical

locations, neither of which had been imaginable before the onset of virtual. Our three seminars covered the topics of the power and politics of mapping the landscape; landscape art and wellbeing; and most recently, landscape art and the environmental emergency. Virtual programming enabled us to weave together events featuring individuals beyond our normal circles, hearing from artists, poets, academics and social justice activists, including some from overseas. These online seminars also reached new audiences, opening up the research group. Speakers’ wide-ranging connections allowed us to tap into new interest groups resulting in subscribers joining the group from academic cartographic circles and medical practitioners to environmental activists. The virtual format also allowed those usually unable to travel to in-person events to remain connected; heart-warming feedback from members with child-care responsibilities and difficulties with mobility fuelled our desire to make these events as accessible as possible. For the first time, online marketing platforms such as Eventbrite and the ease of passing on Zoom links meant that we had attendees to events that we had never met before, a true example of the access and expansive potential of virtual.

Lisa Temple Cox, Excavation IV: Probably Roman (2015).

© the artist

There have also been opportunities to document our seminars through Zoom recordings and publish talks online for the first time. This presented a chance to learn more about how to give the group an online presence and the intricacies of subtitling.

Additionally, we have dipped our toes into blended events, as a first step towards re-entering the face-to-face world. In May, we held a virtual visit to Leeds Art Gallery where curator Dr Laura Claveria allowed us privileged access to the exhibits, from the comfort of our homes. This allowed us to imagine a way forward that combines Zoom attendance with physical presence. We will continue to use blended Zoom events to bring exhibitions to a wider audience, and plan to hold an online tour of the Bristol School of Artists exhibition at the Musée des Beaux-Arts de Bordeaux later in the summer.

The shift to Zoom has not been without its challenges, however. At the beginning of the year, when memories of in-person gatherings were still fresh, our Zoom meetings were conversational, with each member actively participating and sharing a sense of co-ownership and involvement in the session. However, as we hosted our more formal seminars over the year, cameras were turned off, the discussions became quieter and Q&A sessions were largely between us, the group leads, and those delivering their presentations. A stark distinction emerged between speakers and audience. Perhaps this was an unavoidable symptom of the delineated event format of presentations followed by Q&A. Or it may be a result of the time that has passed between members coming together in person – leading to an unfamiliarity and justified nervousness of speaking in front of larger groups. Or maybe this is just reflective of our attendees absorbing fascinating talks without needing to ask questions.

Whatever the cause, this detachment between hosts and attendees has caused us to adapt. We are now prepared for a lack of audience questions and have adjusted the event schedules, becoming more flexible to respond to the level of (dis-)engagement on the day. Unfortunately, as part of this, we feel we have lost an element of personal contact with our group members, something that was so precious at the early stages of the pandemic.

The expanded research group has also made it more difficult to determine the target audience of our events; what tone to pitch; what topics to include. In the past it was easy to choose topics that we knew were relevant and of interest to our members who had many areas of research in common and were involved in comparable projects. With a much larger mailing list, the LRG is now a network with a wonderful richness and variety of specialisms and interests. This does however make it difficult to programme events that strike a balance between appealing to a breadth of members, but also being specific enough to offer new insights and depths. If we are now reaching audiences outside the professional arts and museum sector (which can be enriching through cross-disciplinary expertise), how do we make our events inclusive for those without cultural-sector backgrounds but also retain interest for our original museum-based members? This is a question that we are still exploring, and it would be very helpful to hear

The Barn, Wormingford (1954)

© The Artist's Estate. John Nash RA, © Photo: Royal Academy of Arts, London. if other research groups have experienced similar dilemmas.

In some ways, it seems as if the Landscape Research Group is increasingly a Landscape Research Network, with tendrils that reach into various spheres, but without the central hub that has existed in previous years. Instead, we as coleads sometimes feel we are the core of the research group, hosting events for guest attendees, rather than retaining a corpus of members who feel a co-ownership of the group.

If we are successful in our application, next year presents another opportunity to navigate the challenges and potential of online events – with the added possibility of an in-person element. Perhaps a solution to some of the difficulties that we have outlined here is to embrace the flexibility afforded by Zoom and virtual connections, cultivating larger, more varied audiences while also offering opportunities for specific research focuses and informal chats. This may mean moving away from specific art historical concerns and broadening our discussions to how landscape art across time speaks to topical issues in society, such as inclusivity, the climate crisis and wellbeing. The past year has changed many things for the Landscape Research Group and our approach as its leaders. One certainty is that the LRG has continued to provide connections between individuals with a shared passion for exploring the place of landscape art in society today. For us as co-leads, it has given a focus and a motivation beyond the uncertainties of our everyday work. We have been able to grow and reach new audiences, something we can take forward to expand conversations and deepen understandings around the place of British landscape art today.

To catch up on the Landscape Research Group’s seminars from the last year, please visit the Colchester & Ipswich Museums’ YouTube channel, here.