| This work is drawn from a larger series, Designated Sites of Tranquility, which explores the idea of tranquility and mapping, and responds to research carried out by geographers at the University of Northumbria (UNN). The researchers conducted a social survey that looked at what people think makes the countryside tranquil. This information was then analyzed statistically to produce maps of Northumberland National Park and West Durham Coalfield, showing the relative tranquility of each area. As an artist, I have an interest in factual systems of representation. |  |
Michele Allen
This work is drawn from a larger series, Designated Sites of Tranquility, which explores the idea of tranquility and mapping, and responds to research carried out by geographers at the University of Northumbria (UNN). The researchers conducted a social survey that looked at what people think makes the countryside tranquil. This information was then analyzed statistically to produce maps of Northumberland National Park and West Durham Coalfield, showing the relative tranquility of each area. As an artist, I have an interest in factual systems of representation. I was particularly drawn to the geographers’ attempt to objectively map a concept as subjective as tranquility, reflecting our collective anxiety over human interactions with nature, and our need to codify our experience of the natural world.
Between 2005 and 2006, I visited the sites deemed to be the most tranquil, producing a series of photographs of these different locations. On one of these visits I discovered pieces of Cine film buried in the ruins of a demolished building that I then spliced back together and digitized. The resulting film Peaceful stream, quiet hill was created by re-editing the found footage, and adding sounds recorded in the location where the film was found and text from UNN research documents.
