Figments

Directed and devised by Judy Gordon and David Barnett.
Figments is a collaborative work bringing together digital panoramic photography, image manipulation and performance. A series of seven images in which figments of urban life and a working forest collide. The viewer, surrounded by 360 degree scenarios, with a cast of five actors, is invited to interact.

This work by Judy Gordon and David Barnett emerged from their residency in King's Wood and at Kent Institute of Art and Design. It was commissioned by Stour Valley Arts as part of their international contemporary art programme. Each image is a response to different aspects of life in King's Wood that the artists experienced during their six-month residency. This site-specific work was developed through visits, staying overnight, walking through the forest, recording conversations and making images in different seasons using digital photographs, video and sound. In this project, interest in the urban environment and relationships between architecture, space and the modern person in the city, evident in the artists' previous work has continued. They wanted to see how, as artists living in a city, they responded psychologically and physically to the two differing landscapes. By juxtaposing and integrating non-organic, urban environments with the ancient wood and examining social ritual they have further investigated how far the environment triggers modern thought and behaviour. In these panoramas, Gordon and Barnett suggest that ‘the landscape functions as a mirror and a lens: in it we see the space we occupy and ourselves as we occupy it.’* The city has become our exoskeleton, a shield that we must share with others to keep out the unpredictable natural elements.

Although each image can be selected at random and represents a specific interpretation, the series of images as a whole forms a complete work. Everything is a montage, a fiction, where the viewer looks through Photoshop layers which act as rearrangements of truths to serve the narrative.

The artists also wanted to explore how the elements of live performance could be used in digital media - not just in photographic stills but by using space, movement and sound. The location of the wood itself is an exciting natural theatre space, raising creative issues of light, sound, colour, and scale. A cast of performers has been shot against a blue-screen in a studio and directed specifically for each image. Each panorama has been created for an audience of one and the viewer, using the mouse is seen as the sole audience member.

Digital photography against a blue-screen enabled us to quickly capture and extract actors from their backgrounds using Adobe Photoshop. We were able to build up layers of photographed actors, props and backgrounds in until we were happy to produce our images in Quicktime VR format. Not trying to create a total photo-realistic reconstruction of reality, we wanted actors lit with interior light to be seen outside with their original lighting. By leaving their colour and lighting uncorrected we show the initial physical and psychological environment they had come from. Sound from the locations and interviews was also recorded.

*Jeffrey Kastner, in preface to Land and Environmental Art, (Phaidon 1998), p.11“In a few brief meetings with people who live near or work in King's Wood, we traced the development of the area through their experiences, leaving us with a wealth of stories from their early memories to recent incidents with which we measured our responses to the forest and its activities. As city dwellers, we were most impressed by the forest industry, the task of maintaining a balance between preservation and development and the continual struggle to sustain both the needs of the forest and its visitors. However, nothing could detract from the overwhelming sense of beauty, strength and serenity that these woods have to offer and we are left with a feeling that, in the short time we spent there, we have shared a time and space with many over the ages.
The fact that I was heavily pregnant for much of the initial stages of the project must have influenced our experience quite deeply. Samuel was born in late December and our time in King's Wood will be treasured as very much part of his arrival”. Judy Gordon and David Barnett


Stour Valley Arts

Stour Valley Arts commissions artists to work in the landscape, organises education programmes and develops international exchanges. Based in King's Wood, Challock, Kent this newly independent organisation works in partnership with various different bodies including Forest Enterprise, Kentish Stour Countryside Project, South East Arts, Kent County Council, Ashford Borough Council and Friends of King's Wood.
Stour Valley Arts aims to increase public awareness and enjoyment of contemporary art and to encourage greater interest in the countryside. The organisation is a unique regional resource for artists, teachers, students of all ages and the public.
Since the project's inception in 1994 sculpture by the following artists has been commissioned and may be seen in King's Wood, Challock - Richard Harris, Dominique Bailly, Andy Frost, Chris Drury, Guiliano Mauri and Lukasz Skapski. Stour Valley Arts has also commissioned artists to respond to the forest landscape using other media. Hamish Fulton's book, Walking Through records the artist's walks through King's Wood and Susan Derges has created a series of photographs which follow the cycle of a year in King's Wood. The latest commission, Figments, is a digital work which has developed from Montage Theatre's residency in King's Wood and at Kent Institute of Art and Design.

King's Wood has free access at all times. A way-marked path leads to the sculptures, a walk of about three miles. We welcome disabled visitors but wheelchair access is difficult.

DIRECTIONS: Car: From M2 take A251 towards Ashford. From M20 take A28 towards Canterbury then A251 towards Faversham. Car Park and entrance to the forest walk is situated off the A251 on the road to Wye.Rail: Ashford or Faversham then Ashford-Faversham bus.
For further information please contact Sandra Drew

T: 01233 740040 E: sdrew@svap.freeserve.co.uk W: www.stourvalleyarts.org.uk
or call at Stour Valley Arts office - Forest Office, Bucks Street (A251), Challock, Kent

King's Wood

King's Wood is a multi-purpose forest, managed by Forest Enterprise for conservation, recreation and timber production. It is a mixed woodland consisting of both broad-leaved trees and conifers. Species include Sweet Chestnut, Beech, Corsican Pine and Douglas Fir.
As an ancient woodland site, King's Wood is home to a high diversity of flora and fauna. This is mainly due to the way the forest is managed by the traditional craft of coppicing. This form of harvesting is beneficial to the local wildlife because it varies the amount of light reaching the forest floor. This determines the flowers species, which in turn affects insect populations such as butterflies. The insect abundance then determines the bird species within the forest.You may explore the forest by using the way-marked paths or unmarked paths and rides.

Acknowledgements
Stour Valley Arts and the Artists would like to thank:
Kent Institute of Art and Design for their collaboration, particularly Lawrence Wood, Pete Niven, Lucy Harrison and all the students who were involved.
Also Gill Crebbin, Howard West, Bartholomew Morris for sharing their thoughts and experiences.

Performers:Temujin Gill, Judy Gordon, Deanna Johnson, Mem Morrison, Imogen Smith and Samuel Barnett for their patience and good humour. Wardrobe Vania Mills at Gladrags and Sophie Gee.
Carolyn Angus, The Marlowe Theatre, particularly Jill Robin, Tony Mann, Diana Pooley, Cor Blimey Arts Neasa MacErlean and Forest Enterprise for their co-operation and Year of the Artist, South East Arts, Countryside Agency, Ashford Borough Council, Kent County Council, Kent Institute of Art and Design for their financial support.

Figments
By Judy Gordon & David Barnett
Commissioned by Stour Valley Arts in collaboration with Kent Institute of Art and Design for the Year of the Artist 2000/2001
Published by Stour Valley Arts, King's Wood, Challock, Kent TN25 4AR
as a result of the residency in King's Wood by Judy Gordon & David Barnett
October 2000 - March 2001
Curated and organised by Sandra Drew
Digital photography and image manipulation by David Barnett
Performance directed by Judy Gordon
Designed by LOUP
Produced by Cyclone
Box Printed by Dexter
Distributed by Cornerhouse, 70 Oxford Street, Manchester M1 5NH
© Stour Valley Arts and the artists 2001
ISBN 0 9535340 3 0
FIGMENTS has been financially supported by:
Year of the Artist South East Arts
Countryside Agency Ashford Borough Council
Kent County Council Kent Institute of Art and Design

Forest Flicks

Directed by Judy GordonForest Flicks is a live art performance by Montage Theatre based on and using images from Figments. This cross-discipline piece involves physical theatre and projected images. Performed at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury on 14th July 2001 as part of the Street Level Festival. Commissioned by Stour Valley Arts and The Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury. Media and projection design by David Barnett.

Performers: Deanna Johnson, Imogen Smith.
Wardrobe Vania Mills at Gladrags and Sophie Gee.

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