ShapeShift: Landscape in Motion

This artwork takes the geology of the Jurassic coast – 185 million years of the earth’s history – as it’s starting point. To create this sculpture, visual artist Abigail Reynolds worked with two scientists; Sam Gibbs, a micropalentologist from Southampton Oceanography Centre, and mathematician Bjorn Stanstede from the University of Surrey. Together with a small group from the local community they considered the landscape around Durlston Country Park.

The title of the artwork, ShapeShift; landscape in motion, reflects the
premise of the project that the landscape is essentially fragile and unstable,
shaped by a range of environmental factors changing over the millennia,
and that it is now shifting more rapidly. Our traditional sense of the landscape as more powerful than human influence has undergone a reversal with the widespread acceptance of anthropogenic climate change.

The focus of our enquiry are the microfossils left by marine and freshwater
plankton species and microscopic sea-floor species; markers of huge
climate changes, which comprise the limestones and shales along the
local coastline. Over millions of years we can track how different species
have responded to the changing climate as they come into being, evolve
and become extinct. Their microfossils are part of the macro-shape of the
coastline, and are amongst the factors that determine which rocks are hard
and will resist erosion, which will collapse into bays and valleys.

The consideration of shapes on different scales as meaningful markers in
the landscape is key to the work. This large-scale sculpture is built from
locally sourced recycled materials, much of it from the castle itself which
is currently undergoing refurbishment. This decision puts the changing
relationship between homosapiens and the natural environment at
centre-stage, asking us all to reflect on the impact we make on the
environment, now and in the future.

more: interviews and images

This project has a dedicated blog