My interest is in the representation of landscape and environment in the context of accelerated scientific intervention in nature and in the use of wilderness and wasteland for horticulture. The source and inspiration for much of my recent work has been the semi-deserts of Almeria in southern Spain. This setting was used for the filming of Leone’s ‘Paella Westerns’ during the 1960s and until recently was seen as a harsh, parched and inhospitable land, incompatible with stable occupation and enterprise. Broadly, my work alludes to issues of interventionism, and the dialectics of romanticism and utilitarianism.
My earlier imagery interrogated different forms of photographic montage – aiming to mirror the capacity of biosciences to genetically adapt life forms – questioning ideas of the boundaries of the camera-based images. My ongoing AHRC funded research examines both the constructed and the topographical image around questions of human estrangement, contested land and the visual experiences of an expanded shift from open desert to closed, mass agribusinesses in the Almeria region. I am interested in the visual and the psychological impact of new and derelict greenhouse complexes and how the needs for escape, uniqueness and expansiveness of landscape are balanced with the needs of the horticultural industries and the consumer. This work is informed by a range of texts on place, placelessness and theories of photography in a digital environment.
Education
2005 Research Supervisor – pending
1995 MA Electronic Arts, Coventry University
1994 PGDip Electronic Art & Graphics, Coventry University
1984 BA (Hons) Photography, Film & Television, University of Westminster
Current Teaching
Reader in Fine Art and Design, The University of Northampton, School Of The Arts.
Research Leader: Division of Fine Art, Division of Design
Research Degree Tutor
Postgraduate Fine Art
Undergraduate courses in Fine Art, Graphic Communication and Photographic Practice
Other, e.g. External Consultancy etc
2005 Selected to contribute to AHRB Framework Seminars at Sheffield University and Nottingham University
Advisor - Arts Council England, East Midlands
Member - East Midlands University Association
Awards and Grants
2007 AHRC Small grant In the Visual Arts
2006 University of Northampton RAE Investment Fund
2005 Art Council England East Midlands Grant
2002 Arts and Humanities Research Board - Visual Arts Grant
2001 University College, Northampton - research grant
2001 Arts and Humanities Research Board - Visual Arts Grant
2000 Nene Centre for research grant
2000 Project Award - East Midlands Arts
1999 Nene Centre for research grant
1999 Project Award - East Midlands Arts
Research Interests
Practice-led research exploring the development of original images and artefacts for exhibition and publication. Enquiry is centred on the context of accelerated biogenetic and industrial impact on the natural world and the shifting cultural value of the photograph in the digital environment. The significance of pictorial vistas are questioned through a range of digital experiments in collage and alternative exhibition forms. The work alludes to issues of interventionism, the Romantic and the Utilitarian and future human experiences of transformed nature and landscape.
Recent Publications
2007 conference paper Almeria: Experiences of a Corporatized and Utilitarian Land within ‘Globalised Photography’ Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dublin
2005 'Visual Hybrids: Nature and Neo-Nature', paper presented at AHRC Centre for Cultural Analysis, Theory and History,
Congress CATH 2005 , The Ethics and Politics of Virtuality and Indexicality
2001 'Uncertain Terrain', catalogue, ISBN O 905634 48 9
2002 ‘After Dolly’ Compassion In World Farming Trust, web site
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Selected Exhibitions
2006 invernaderos, within Format06, International Photography Festival,
2005 Common Ground, Landscape and Contemporary Art, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum
2004 Pleasure Garden, commission within national group show, Nottingham Castle, July
Falling Away, AHRB research solo show, UCN The Gallery
2002 Group show, 5th Generative Art International Conference, Milan
After Dolly, Invited Artist, national group exhibition, ICA galleries London
Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art, ‘Indepenent’ strand September - October
Drawing To Conclusions, joint research show, UCN The Gallery
Work since 1995, solo show, UCN The Gallery
2001 Uncertain Terrain, AHRB research solo show Nottingham Castle Art Gallery
2000 Transfiguration, group show, Roadmender Art Gallery, Northampton
Dislocations, solo show, Q Arts Studio Gallery, Derby
1999 Dislocations, solo show, Focal Point Gallery, Southend-On-Sea
1998 Neo-Nature, solo show, Senate UCN
1997 Research In Progress, group show, The Gallery, Northampton
1995 Secrets and Sequences, group show, Sunley Centre, Northampton
e-mail: andrew.langford@northampton.ac.uk
a3lang@ntlworld.com
web : www.andrewlangford.co.uk
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