I was sat in the office in London with time to kill when I decided, rather belatedly,to renew my subscription to a-n magazine. I started by searching the opportunities for February and previous months when I came across the "Light House Relay" for Folkstone Triennial (fringe) It was the 27th of Feb and the deadline was the 28th. Luckily I had spent 6 months (this time last year) living and working as artist in residence for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, using the light house as my studio.
Geography determines climate. Climate determines culture and therefor, in turn, effects history (perhaps?).
Spurn has been formed by the slow erosion of the Yorkshire coast line, As the sediment moves southward drawn by the currents, it is deposited at the mouth of the Humber when it meets the opposing current of the estuary and thus Spurn is slowly built from the deposits of thousands of years. Spurn shifts and moves however. The road on which I travelled up the point 15 years ago is now 200m out to sea. There has been one small break through and several (managed) wash overs in that small time, during which Spurn becomes an island and the school bus becomes a boat.
The Point is mentioned in the Viking Chronicles as well as having footnotes in early christian history. Spurn has been home to many things and many people, each leaving some small or large trace upon the ever shifting landscape and history of this place. Vikings, missionary's, saints, hermits, fisherman, shipwrecked sailor's, lifeboat men, soldiers, birdwatchers and artists have all inhabited this remote place. It has seen several lighthouses, a pub, a school, a military base, railway line as well as the different community's that have come and gone, and it is these layers of history that have kept me coming back.
"What is the city if not the people" (Napoleon Bonaparte)
Whilst the Lighthouse dominates the long low spit of sand, standing tall at the far end of Spurn, like the bridge of an oil tanker, it is the military history that has shaped Spurn or left its mark so noticeably during the last 100 years. Since the MOD left the concrete Tank blocks, machine gun nests, barracks, artillery emplacements, spot lights, stores workshops, rail tracks and jetty's are all slowly being reclaimed by sand & sea.
My work at Spurn is about discovering, unearthing or excavating these human/ natural histories and using them to inform and develop my own practice. Working with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and in particular the local warden Andrew Gibson to make work that enables people to discover, for themselves, some of these elements, to gather a little more knowledge from their experience of the point and to help the local community and the YWT maintain Spurn for the future, that and its just a great place to escape to and be.
After reading the brief several times I began to think about the military Acoustic Mirror at the other end from the Point (nr Kilnsea) and how I had failed to pay proper attention to this amazing object at anytime during the past 15 years of going to and from Spurn as both artist and tourist.
I submitted my proposal to bring the Mirror back to life by reattaching a microphone and recording equipment, only this time instead of just sitting waiting and listening for approaching Zeppelins I would relay the sounds to the lighthouse where visitors would be able to listen to the amplified signal as ships people and sheep passed by the 20ft high concrete land mark.
I emailed my proposal off and then crossed my fingers and went back to work on other things.
www.stevenallbutt.com
www.thistudios.com
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