Lie of the Land was a day of artworks, presentations and conversations, which drew on research undertaken by artists in The Expanded City programme to explore how our everyday lives are shaped by the ownership, management and development of land.
The symposium featured talks by Peter Hetherington – journalist and author of the book Whose Land is Our Land: The use and abuse of Britain’s forgotten acres, and Julia Heslop – a Newcastle-based artist whose self-build housing project, Protohome (2016), examined participatory alternatives to mainstream housing provision. The event also included a bus tour to sites in and around Preston, where The Expanded City artists presented their research into issues of housing, cycling infrastructure and the changing landscape.
The Expanded City network brought together artists in the project with experts from other disciplines to discuss issues which had arisen in their research, through a series of public events.
This first symposium, which took place in Woodplumpton and District Club in the north of Preston, presented the first stage of research in the Expanded City project. Alongside presentations about urban demographics by economist Paul Swinney, the production of community spaces by design collective The Decorators, and a performance lecture by Ian Nesbitt and Ruth Levene, the day included a bus trip around the City Deal areas, where Gavin Renshaw, Olivia Keith and Lauren Velvick presented their work-in-progress.
In Certain Places
VB005A, Victoria Building
University of Central Lancashire
Preston, PR1 2HE
info@incertainplaces.org
