Trout Fishing in America and other Stories
- Submitting institution
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The University of Cumbria
- Unit of assessment
- 32 - Art and Design: History, Practice and Theory
- Output identifier
- Wilson1
- Type
- T - Other
- DOI
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- Location
- Arizona State University Museum of Art, Phoenix
- Brief description of type
- Exhibitions and Artists Book
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month
- October
- Year
- 2014
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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1
- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- Yes
- Double-weighted statement
- The multi-component output, Trout Fishing in America and Other Stories, comprises a solo exhibition, featuring nine named videos and multiple photographic and text works. Components of the work were also exhibited at numerous other international venues. The exhibition and project were the focus of an international conference, and a 264-page project-specific book, co-edited by Wilson.
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- Following an invitation by the Global Institute of Sustainability and discussions with scientists at Arizona State University and beyond, we focused on the plight of two endangered species indigenous to the Grand Canyon in Arizona – the humpback chub occupying creeks feeding the Colorado river – and the California Condor. In inviting us, the scientists had expressed long-standing frustration that their work seemed so often apparently ‘beyond the reach’ of a general public. Our solo exhibition in response was an installation comprising nine videos, photographic and text works including You Must Carry Me Now, Knock on wood, and The Species Wall. Both species are sustained on human conservationist ‘life-support’ systems within an environment that, despite investment and ‘stewardship’, ironically and tragically, remains humanly hostile to them. Through our artwork, we questioned this paradox – that whilst as a species we may recognise surmountable, if complex, environmental problems, local, cultural determinants are such that conservation practice is often maintained instead, only as an additional layer to that complexity. The research was carried out in field trips in 2013, 2014 and 2015 across which we maintained dialogue with biologists, conservationists, anglers and hunters, amongst others, in and around the Grand Canyon – most notably, bird scientists running the capture/release programme at Vermilion Cliffs and fish scientists operating an electrofishing programme at Bright Angel Creek, to extirpate sport fish, creating safe habitat for the native fish. Our response hinged strategically on an observed disconnect between the gathering and processing of scientific ‘data’ and the deeper and more complex registers of affect experienced by those working in such proximity to their stewarded subjects. In addition to the exhibition, the international conference and 264-page project-specific book (2015), a comprehensive public programme of events was carried out during the show responding to the Exhibition content.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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