Borderline Culture in a Rural Context
Eileen Bonner
Sarawut Chutiwongpeti
Monika Dutta
Mathew Heyward
David Kelly
‘The Other beyond the urban melting pot’
Mikhail Sholokhov
The city has been conceptualised as a flexible and organic entity, able to grow around changes in its demography. The rural setting has been considered less often. Smaller communities often struggle to come to terms with new influences and social patterns. The culture of nature and of the rural extended family are not thought of as an issue. The city, with its polymorphology feeding many guises, has a strong presence in literature, music and visual art.
How does the alien fare in the vast spaces between the great urban conurbations?
HOLTgallery has a unique location in a UK west country market town, dominated by a 13 century abbey, built by the community. The Gallery seeks to bring a condensed, urgent, cosmopolitan art experience to a disparate rural population. For this reason the new project will allow artists unusual access to a vibrant context for work that may address the isolation of denizens or marginal individuals who cannot form groups and disappear into an anonymous urban landscape. Here the landscapes itself is a strong force and the social landscape must be the front line.