It was a pleasant change from parliamentary discussions about committee chairs when I had the pleasure of hearing Peter Murray, founding director of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, speak at the European Land Art Network yesterday.
This EU-funded project brings together the Yorkshire Sculpture Park and others which display art in a natural setting or use nature as part of art. Other members include Springhornhof, Centrum Reszby Polski, and the hidden Italian valley of Arte Sella. (The Middelheim Park in Antwerp is another striking example of this kind of art.)
Peter spoke of a long European tradition in this field, in which the landscape design at Chatsworth created a European movement for a more natural style of gardens, but with art incorporated. As well as the cultural value of the ELAN exchange, the economic impact of such art in the modern context is particularly important, not least through the visitors it attracts.
