Introduction
The Centre for Research into Art and the Environment (RAE) is a collaboration of researchers from the Department of Art, Media and Communication (MAC) and Landscape Architecture. The common ground uniting staff is their interest in art and its relationship to the natural and the built environment.
Research from the Centre will focus on art, looking at how using both practice and theory can be used to question accepted practices, and open up new modes of response to issues of sustainability and ecology within the natural and built environment. The multidisciplinary approach is expected to lead to innovative and original outcomes.
For the last 15 years the MAC research group has created research of national and international significance involving exhibitions, commissions, performances, conferences and publications and the Centre will continue to reach out to local, national and international audiences. Photography, video, drawing, sculpture, painting, printmaking and performance will be used to explore the key areas of interest to the Centre. These are:
- Sustainability
- Ecology
- Archaeology
- Topology
- Topography
- Interactivity
Initial Partnerships
Partnerships and collaborations are key to researching art and its relationship to natural and built environment. The following projects have involved internal and external partners:
- ‘Drawing Viewpoints’ for the 2006 Cheltenham International Literature Festival
- Artist in Residence programme at Gloucester Cathedral now in its 11th year, a collaboration between the City, the Cathedral, ACE and the University of Gluocestershire
- The Jerwood Foundation, resulting in the Jerwood Drawing Prize Exhibition and subsequently the Painting Prize, shown annually in the Summerfield Gallery at the University
- Forest of Dean Sculpture Trail and Trust (FODST) resulting in GWR funded research
- The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) collaboration with Gloucester City and GUHRG for CITEE funding for a Stone Centre for Gloucester
- AHRC funding to support the Birgit Skiold archive