The Follies of Youth

The Follies of Youth
The Calder, 2 April – 31 May 2015
The Hepworth Wakefield, Gallery Walk, Wakefield,WF1 5AW

I’ve made a new video for this exhibition, comissioned by Pavilion in partnership with The Hepworth Wakefield.

The Follies of Youth is a programme of historical research and contemporary art commissioning by visual arts organisation Pavilion. Three artists – Giles Bailey (based in London), Amelia Crouch (Bradford), Ruth Lyons (Cork)  – have produced work in response to three landscapes in West Yorkshire – Stapleton, Whitley Beaumont and Byram – listed in the account book of Lancelot ‘Capability’ Brown (1716–1783).

Supported by a collective of producers, nicknamed ‘the follies’, the artists have undertaken field trips to the ruinous and industrial landscapes. In an attempt to recover Brown’s lost designs, the artists have engaged the follies in rehearsing certain eighteenth century practices: of Arcadian poetic fantasy, walking etiquette and lime kilning. The results of the exercises will be exhibited at The Calder, from 2 April – 31 May 2015, alongside The New Arcadian Journal, which is preparing an issue in time for the landscape architect’s tercentenary in 2016.