The old schoolhouse of Inis Bearacháin, built in the thirties and last used by pupils in the 1960’s, is the site of an artwork that puts a root into the memory of place and invokes a legacy of family trees. The artists, Ackroyd & Harvey, have created a series of unique photographic portraits. Grass grown from seed is the material of their photography; chlorophyll, the green pigment initiating a photochemical response is the primary medium, giving rise to images of a subtly evanescent kind. The seduction of visibility and the inevitability of change are implicit in Ackroyd & Harvey’s photographic work, and by skillfully manipulating grass’s properties and connotations, they articulate and actualize notions of ephemerality, landscape, and memory.

Commissioned as part of Galway County Council’s Public Art Programme

Interview with Ackroyd & Harvey on Imeall Arts & Culture Show, TG4

For their inaugural showing of work in China, Ackroyd & Harvey have regrown Mother and Child (Aka Heather and Adèle) first presented publicly at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, California in 1998.

Their pivotal research project* in 1997 with a leading UK environmental research institute (IGER), enabled the artists to confer long-term stability on their transient chlorophyll images with the application of a break-through strain of ‘stay-green’ grass seed and specialised drying methods. The scientists meanwhile took inspiration from the complexity of colour in the artists’ work and have made significant international developments with a range of non-invasive high-resolution imaging techniques. As a result of the pioneering art and science lines of research established a decade ago, in May 2012 the National Plant Phenomics Centre opened at Aberystwyth University in Wales, UK.

At the opening ceremony of the exhibition the artwork was awarded the prestigious Wu Guanzhong Prize for Innovation.

* funded by the Wellcome Trust Sci-Art Award scheme (1997) and NESTA Pioneer Award (2001)

Fllm Ackroyd & Harvey
Edit Ackroyd & Harvey/Duncan Harris 2012
Running time 4hrs 30mins

The Ecocide Trial devised and managed by The Hamilton Group

On September 30th 2011 an unprecedented event took take place at London’s Supreme Court of the United Kingdom. Described as a ‘Mock Trial’, the proceedings followed carefully orchestrated courtroom proceedings where a Judge presided over a Jury of selected members of the public and Prosecution and Defense teams of highly regarded British Barristers. The case brought forward by the Prosecution was based on a fictionalized account of a major environmental disaster. A crime of Ecocide*.

It has been proposed that Ecocide, the environmental equivalent of genocide, becomes the 5th International Crime Against Peace alongside Genocide, Crimes Against Humanity, Crimes of Aggression and War Crimes. Under the proposed new law, Heads of States and Directors of Corporations will be required to take individual and personal responsibility for their actions.

The Mock Trial at London’s Supreme Court was played out as though International Courts had already adopted the Law of Ecocide honoring professional legal procedure and conduct.

The case brought to court was based on real life events: the Deepwater Horizon Oil Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, and Unconventional Tar Sands extraction in Alberta. Two imaginary Chief Executives of major corporations, played by actors, were charged with aiding and abetting the alleged crime. A Judge presided over the Trial with Michael Mansfield QC, leading the Prosecution and Christopher Parker QC leading the Defense. Before the case was heard, legal argument was put as to whether Ecocide and the Earth Right To Life should be applied to the charge against the CEO’s. Over the course of a day, expert witnesses provided evidence and the Jury decided the outcome.

Working with two ‘roving’ camera operators and a sound technician, alongside the four fixed cameras permanently installed in the Courtroom, the entire Mock Trial proceedings were filmed on HD Video Camcorder. The artwork is a durational, sequential piece that captures the unfolding real-time drama of the Trial. A time-line listing exact procedure of the day was displayed in the gallery alongside the stenographer’s report from the day’s proceedings. A series of automated feather and ink drawings were displayed that could be interpreted as ‘exhibits’, supporting ‘evidence’ for the Trial.

* “The neologism ecocide is already in use to a limited extent and describes large-scale destruction, in whole or in part, of ecosystems within a given territory. Ecocide is in essence the very antithesis of life. It can be the outcome of external factors, such as an earthquake or flooding, of a force majeure. It can also be the result of human intervention. Economic activity, particularly when connected to natural resources, can be a driver of conflict.” Eradicating Ecocide by Polly Higgins
www.eradicatingecocide.com


The Trial was coordinated and produced by The Hamilton Group. Polly Higgins, the UK Barrister who has proposed the new law of Ecocide has been a guest at Ackroyd & Harvey’s ‘in-conversation’ public engagement series accompanying their Beuys’ Acorns installation at the Royal Academy of Arts “Earth” GSK Contemporary 2009.
Cameraman/editor Duncan Harris, who worked with the artists on “Stranded” oversaw the production crew.

Further information on the Mock Trial

The Trial is designed by The Hamilton Group to get Ecocide debated as widely as possible. Funds to realize the Trial have been raised by The Hamilton Group through on-line appeals, gifting of time and resources from individuals and organizations, and sponsorship drives. Polly Higgins defines Ecocide as the “mass damage, destruction to or loss of ecosystems of a given territory, whether by human agency or by other causes, to such an extent that peaceful enjoyment by the inhabitants of that territory has been severely diminished.” But what will this mean in practice? Is it legally possible? Will it have more negative effects than positive? Would the Alberta Tar Sands mining, destruction of the Amazon rainforest or oil spills be classed as Ecocide? Who would be the individuals prosecuted under this proposed law? Would Banks be culpable as well if they provide funding for activities prosecuted under Ecocide? In reality, what effect would the law have on the environment and businesses and the people who run them? It is argued that the Law of Ecocide is a key law to address humanitarian and environmental issues on a global scale. Implementation of the Law at the 2012 Earth Summit would change inter-governmental policy and action on climate change, provide the necessary legal framework to help pre-empt the energy crunch and halt the over – exploitation of natural resources. The process of understanding the legal complexities of Ecocide starts here.

*The Hamilton Group is a not-for-profit organisation encouraging businesses, corporations and communities to bring responsibility for the world to the forefront of their decision-making. It has developed an ethos that organisations can adopt to help their thinking and decision making.
www.thehamiltongroup.org.uk


Visit Carbon 13 website 
Artdaily article

Automated feather and ink drawings by Ackroyd & Harvey

1. The Law of Ecocide
2. Dr Simon Boxall, witness for the prosecution
3. Dr Robin Perry, witness for the defence
4. Michael Mansfield QC, closing speech for the prosecution
5. Christopher Parker QC, closing speech for the defence
6. The Jury’s Verdict

The Ecocide Act
The Indictment
Stenographer’s Transcription

8 – 30 September 2012

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“A tree marks time. This artwork will grow year by year, transform as the seasons change, reflecting the evolving nature of the Olympic Park. These trees embrace metal rings which have been engraved with a record of the site’s history, held in the branches for successive decades to come.”
Ackroyd & Harvey, December 2011

Inscription for Northern Access Approach (Eton Manor) / Red Oak
Inscription for Southern Access Approach / Silver Lime
Inscription for Western Access Approach (Greenway) / Common Ash

Management Team

Adriana Marques, London Legacy Development Corporation
Elizabeth Newell Art Consulting

Design Team

Benson-Sedgwick Engineering Ltd
Expedition Engineering
Hillier Nurseries
Pentagram

View ODA official press release
View artists press release

Art in the Park website
London Legacy website

Saison Printemps-Ete 2012
Domaine de Chamarande
13 May – 30 September 2012

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In 2001 Ackroyd & Harvey undertook a residency at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston. This culminated in an exhibition, Presence, where they made the Special Exhibition gallery their studio and darkroom, germinating and growing works in the space in which they were exhibited.

Ackroyd & Harvey revisited the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in January 2012 and re-grew Script for the launch of Gardner Museum new building project designed by Renzo Piano.

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Magic Moments: The Screen and the Eye – 9 Artists, 9 Projections

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, USA
Special Exhibition Gallery
21 June – 20 August 2012

A selection of nine projections by Artists-in-Residence shown in a continuous loop during open hours, highlighting a different work each week. Includes works by  Ackroyd & Harvey, Lida Abdul, Cliff Evans, Henrik Håkansson, Su-Mei Tse, Luisa Rabbia, Dayanita Singh, David Wilson, and Melvin Moti.
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Previous screenings:
Unoccupied Territory, June 2012
Reel Earth, March 2012
London Short Film Festival, January 2012
Two Degrees Futures, June 2011

For the past three years Ackroyd & Harvey have been documenting the contrails (vapourtrails) left by aircraft in the skies above their Surrey based studio close to Gatwick airport, amassing hundreds of photos and studying the way that on certain days the contrails spread out to form almost complete cloud cover.

On the 15th of April 2010 the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted, spewing clouds of fine ash into the atmosphere and forcing unprecedented closure of the majority of European airspace. For six days the skies above the UK were free of air traffic, providing a unique opportunity to experience life without the pollution air travel causes both acoustically and visually.

Out of the Blue (3 minutes) is a visual meditation on the formation of contrails as aircraft move across the sky and an acoustic contemplation on the power of silence and beauty of blue when the sky is momentarily stilled.

Film: Ackroyd & Harvey
Camera: Dan Harvey
Edit: Amanda Loomes
Sound and music: Graeme Miller
Voice: Ackroyd & Harvey

Out of the Blue is one of six films commissioned for What On Earth, a series of short films produced by Artsadmin that look at the state of the species: at some of the pressures on our planet, issues we face now and futures we may see as a consequence of the way we live today.

Watch on YouTube

Supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England and by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

“Ackroyd & Harvey’s work I came across a decade or so ago and I was fascinated by their ‘living’ landscapes and portraits which lived, which grew, which got older, not in a sinister Dorian Gray manner but rather reflecting the natural and often beautiful aging processes of the subjects. Both landscape and portraiture have traditionally tried to capture a ‘moment’, as if all that mattered was surface dynamics and stasis whilst ignoring the complexities under the surface. An Ackroyd & Harvey artwork grows, literally.

In this instance from grass seed bringing home the point that we all share to some extent similar natural cycles and that the natural world is worthy of our protection. The works to be shown in Void Gallery will be actually grown in the gallery from seed (and soil) and have local subject matter in this case houses from the Park Avenue part of Derry and a resident of one of them. The alignment of the panels in gallery 1 mirror the angle the buildings are physically on the street. The houses and human subject matter will literally be part of a vibrant, growing and innovative local landscape.”
(Gregory McCartney, Curator)

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