The Wasteland Sculpture Park: A book project by Beth Bramich
Text by Beth Bramich.
The Wasteland Sculpture Park
A Collection of Proposals for Derelict Sites
The Wasteland Sculpture Park proposes a repurposing of wastelands as common ground to form
a network of sites for public sculpture.
Wastelands are often perceived as valueless gaps in the urban environment. Having fallen out of
their official use, their purpose becomes undefined and their legal status can similarly be unclear.
But in this transient state these spaces can have great potential. From the unclaimed borders
between neighbouring office blocks to vast swathes of ex-industrial scrubland, these virtual
no-man’s land can act as a place in which common needs can be met, whether these be for
something as simple as a shortcut or as complicated as a space in which to consider what could
be there instead.
The Wasteland Sculpture Park attempts to provoke reflection on these complex sites through
gathering a collection of proposals for new sculptural interventions, from the enactable to the
fantastical.
This model is put forward as an alternative to the traditional notion of a sculpture park. Rather than
an open-air museum displayed across landscaped lawns, The Wasteland Sculpture Park occupies
multiple sites and responds to their specific contexts. Sculpture here is conceived as an openended
catch-all for physical intervention, the park as a space which exists across borders and
outside of restrictions.
The proposals gathered within this book include the temporary, the ephemeral, the monumental
and the quietly transformative. Dispersed across the globe these sculptures engage with the
paticularities of their site, drawing out histories, current functions and possible futures.
Contributors: Alex Head, Alice Gale-Feeny, Jeff Baker and John Harris, Balsall Heath Academy of Contemporary Art, Simon & Tom Bloor, Matthew Boynton, Lauren O’Grady, Georgie Park, Felix Proctor, Rebecca Scofield, Sophie Sleigh-Johnson, Turf Twinning: Lawrence Bradby and Jevan Watkin Jones,
Hannah Ziolek
This book was commissioned by Wasteland Twinning Nottingham. It was first presented at exhibition Recreation Ground, The Attic, One Thoresby Street in 2013 and subsequently shown at Bonington Gallery, Nottingham as part of Since 1843: In the Making in 2014.
