Art, science and the coast

Exploratory Laboratory (Ex Lab) is a visual arts, craft and media project responding to the Jurassic Coast World Heritage Site, a 95 mile section of stunning Dorset and East Devon coastline. It is a project from the Big Picture group (1), a strategic network that is actively developing the visual arts across Dorset, Bournemouth and Poole.

The Jurassic Coast has been described as a linear laboratory for the earth sciences. Its rocks, beautifully exposed and accessible along its length, sequentially record 185 million years of the Earth’s history and display a superb range of active coastal processes. Whilst the public explores the wonders that this coastline has to offer, scientists are busy gathering data to help understand its formation and inform its future management. Ex Lab brings together artists with earth scientists in a collaborative project investigating our understanding of this special coastal environment.

The project began in autumn 2010 with an exhibition, seminar and workshops highlighting the new techniques and technologies being used by earth scientists to map and monitor the coast. It presented the work of artists who are working with science to visualise data and present research, and who are adopting emerging technologies to create new work.

The exhibition and wider programme were ambitious. It was the first collaboration among visual arts organisations in the county, let alone the involvement of scientific, academic and other partners. It wasn’t always an easy process, dealing with multiple priorities, varying capacities and limited resources, but this first phase achieved far more than any of the individual member organisations could possibly have done on their own. The exhibition raised the bar in terms of the quality and scope of work being presented in Dorset. It laid the groundwork for the second phase of the project by stimulating the interest of audiences and promoting new mutual interests between scientists and artists.

For 2012, Ex Lab is commissioning a series of new artworks arising out of this art and science collaboration, as part of the Cultural Olympiad ‘Maritime Mix’ programme. The aim is to create a trail or network of temporary site specific art along the coast and across Dorset, set against the backdrop of the Olympic and Paralympic sailing events taking place in Weymouth and Portland from July to September.

Each new commission will explore and reflect a different art/science collaboration. For example, at Durlston Country Park, Swanage, model-making technology being used by scientists to predict coastal erosion will be available for new creative interpretations. At Burton Bradstock, research will focus on the social science of the area and the impact of the coast on people, and vice versa. Other sites include Portland, Purbeck, Charmouth and a route from Weymouth to Sherborne.

Over 200 proposals were submitted from around the country and involving a wide range of media, demonstrating the interest in this field among artists. The second phase of Ex Lab will explore new ways of seeing, and interpreting this unique section of our coast. It aims to support a mutual creation of meaning between science and art, and offer audiences very different opportunities to engage, at a time of unparalleled environmental awareness and social change. For the Big Picture partners, the collaborative approach has enabled resourceful and intelligent strategic development and fostered long-term relationships with the Jurassic Coast Team and wider science community that will leave a legacy for all involved.