Border Crossing – Gretna Landmark has identified the top three international contenders who are in the running to design ‘The Great Unknown’, a structure anticipated to be part of a monumental contemporary Scottish landmark that will signify Scotland’s border with England and herald the main national gateway into Scotland at Gretna.
The Gretna Landmark will be a truly innovative and multidisciplinary design. Charles Jencks and Andy Goldsworthy—two of the most highly acclaimed and internationally celebrated artists working in landscape today—have already committed to working on the project. Both artists have their home in the Dumfries and Galloway region and have strong connections to the landscape, environment and community of the south of Scotland. Charles Jencks will also be guiding the Gretna Landmark design team as the project’s Creative Director.
The design for ‘The Great Unknown’ will work in collaboration with a large scale landform-engineered design by Charles Jencks and will be expected to engage with the overarching themes of energy, power and Scottish identity. The creative direction and themes for the design came out of a series of seminars and workshops involving eminent Scottish academics. ‘Energy’ came out very strongly as a theme—the role that energy and its conservation might play in the future, the inventive energy of the Scottish people and also the natural energy of Scotland’s dynamic landscape.
The selection process for ‘The Great Unknown’ has been long and meticulous and follows after reviewing expressions of interest from artists, architects, engineers and designers from across the globe. Of the submissions received, 19% came from international contenders, 52% from England and 29% from Scotland, signifying Border Crossing’s truly international and multi-disciplinary appeal. Charles Jencks said, “Now we’re down to the final three, an artist, a designer and an architectural firm. The great thing about them is that they’re international, they’re incredibly high-calibre, they’re technically very good, and most of all you can see they’re committed in their writing for us and their presenting. It’s a big commission – they have to communicate something really important and deep about Scotland.”
The three highly innovative short-listed contenders for ‘The Great Unknown’ are from three different disciplines but all have a strong interest in the project’s creative vision. They are:
Balmond Studio/Cecil Balmond
‘A border offers identity but one that is enriched by neighbours, so that it’s not so much a line of separation as a local set of interconnected values.’
Cecil Balmond is one of the most influential designers of his generation. Pushing the limits of what is possible, his “….genius has been crucial to the emergence of a new aesthetic” (Nicolai Ouroussoff, New York Times.) Interrogating and applying advanced geometric thinking in how space can be organised and experienced, Balmond creates new horizons in design and art. His dynamic approach is informed by the sciences of complexity, non-linear organisation and emergence of form. Balmond’s previous art works include ArcelorMittal Orbit, the UK’s largest public art sculpture, designed in collaboration with Anish Kapoor for London’s 2012; Temenos, a sculpture in Middleborough, also designed with Kapoor; and H_edge, a travelling fractal art installation. His work has been presented in a number of critically acclaimed exhibitions including Frontiers of Architecture at Museum of Modern Art in Denmark (2007); Artists Space in New York (2006); Graham Foundation for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts in Chicago (2008-2009); Carnegie Museum of Art (2009-2010) and Element at Opera City gallery in Tokyo (2010).
Ned Kahn
“I am an admirer of the work of both Charles Jencks and Andy Goldsworthy so it would be a great honour to be involved in such an interesting project…sitting at a table with Charles, coming up with a spectacular idea for the landmark.”
An American environmental artist and sculptor famous for the way in which his art makes visible the typically invisible, secret ways of the natural world, Ned Kahn says of his philosophy on art, “I’ve tried to create things where I’ve basically framed a phenomenon, and I’m letting nature do the sculpting…it’s something bigger than me that’s actually doing the real sculpting that people see” (Interview with Joe Palca, NPR). Kahn’s art draws inspiration from science and reveals the way patterns of behaviour can emerge as dynamic recurring themes in nature. He has collaborated with architects and designers on a number of art projects all over the world, including museum exhibits for the Exploratorium in San Francisco, a 7-storey tall fog vortex for the EXPO 2000 in Hanover, Germany and converting a decommissioned, historic power plant in Austin, Texas into a series of fog vortex gardens.
Wilkinson Eyre Architects/Chris Wilkinson
“I am looking forward to working with Charles on this challenging and exciting project.”
A London-based firm widely recognised as one of the UK’s leading architectural practices with a portfolio of national and international award-winning projects, including unprecedented back-to-back success in the RIBA Stirling Prize for Architecture (the UK’s most prestigious award for architecture) for the Magna Project in 2001 and the Gateshead Millennium Bridge in 2002. Wilkinson Eyre’s architecture is based on an informed use of technology and materials and combines a commitment to the spirit of the new with an awareness of context. The designs of Wilkinson Eyre are recognised worldwide and have garnered the firm with a committed reputation for excellence. Some of the firm’s most celebrated designs include the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, the Magna Science Adventure Centre, the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea and the sustainable, energy-efficient Alpine House at Kew Gardens.
“The applicants selected will really bring an international dimension to this commission,” said Chief Executive of Creative Scotland, Andrew Dixon: “I believe Gretna Landmark will be important to tourism, to the economy, and that there’ll be great local pride in the work and its importance to Scotland. The site really is the ‘welcome point’ for Scotland. The Landmark could create the first contemporary icon for the nation.”
Early 2011 will see the final three candidates invited to spend time visiting the site and undertaking a workshops with Creative Director Charles Jencks, exploring the possibilities of collaboration and creativity for ‘The Great Unknown’. The successful inventor will be announced in the summer. The three shortlisted candidates selected to devise a concept for ‘The Great Unknown’, Cecil Balmond, Ned Kahn and Wilkinson Eyre, are tribute to the versatility, breadth and talent of the submissions received.
The Gretna Landmark project is of a key importance to Scotland and the border, both exploring the particular nature of this historic Border and creating a theatrical and serious experience for the 10 million people who enter Scotland every year at Gretna. Currently the event of crossing the border into Scotland by road is unremarkable and travellers are often unaware that they have passed from one country into another.
In centuries past, this border was known as the ‘Debatable Lands’, with a reputation for wild men and lawless raiding. This history will be acknowledged and interpreted by Gretna Landmark, but Gretna’s 21st century installation will also explore the contemporary nature of national identity and boundaries at Scotland’s main border crossing.
Convenor for Dumfries and Galloway Council, Patsy Gilroy, said “Gretna Landmark is a fantastic thing for the nation to celebrate, and I’m proud Dumfries and Galloway can do this for Scotland.”
The selection panel was composed of local representatives and experts in the field, as follows:
Charles Jencks, International architectural theorist and land artist.
Andrew Dixon, Chief Executive of Creative Scotland
Professor Allan Walker, Deputy Director of Glasgow School of Art
Alasdair Houston, Tourism stakeholder and landowner
Laura Wilkinson, Gretna Landmark Community Representative
Councillor Patsy Gilroy, convener of Dumfries and Galloway Council.
Dr Jan Hogarth, Public Art Manager, dgArts