‘Remember Nature’ Residency at Hauser & Wirth Somerset

Dartington Arts School has partnered with Hauser and Wirth Somerset to encourage students and the public to further engage with the work and ideas of the artist and activist Gustav Metzger, and to give opportunities. Earlier this month four students on MA Arts & Place spent two weeks at the high-end gallery developing work in response to Metzger’s theme of ‘Remember Nature’ and engaging with the unique location.

The ‘Remember Nature’ project was originally instigated by Gustav Metzger on 4 November 2015. Arts practitioners and students around the world were encouraged to participate in a Day of Action addressing global issues such as extinction, climate change and environmental pollution. His legacy continues in the partnership we’ve developed, which has enabled these residencies and which has also opened up launched The Gustav Metzger Foundation Scholarship to support a student on the MA Arts and Place course with refugee status.

Gustav Metzger came to the UK in 1939 as a refugee before dedicating his entire creative practice to social activism and challenging our perception of public art as a vehicle for change. During his lifetime, Metzger defined the organization’s mission by envisioning not only exhibitions of his work and furtherance of the political and philosophical ideas he espoused, but also through support for individuals working in the fields of the arts and environmental studies.

Raman Feiz was granted the scholarship and has focused his work during the residency on a performative work that is designed to draw attention to littering and create conversations about this issue within the community. Raman – on a hand painted green bicycle collaged with newspaper and the wheels strung with calls to action – cycled around Bruton gathering litter abandoned in the local area. This culminated in a public performance along Bruton High Street, in which Raman cycled through the town centre with a trail of the rubbish attached to a long rope that followed for several metres behind him. 

Raman Feiz’s work will be on view alongside fellow students Emma Yorke, Imogen Mansfield and Mary Waltham at Hauser & Wirth Somerset until Monday 2 January 2023. The presentation will feature each individual project relating to the key themes of ‘Remember Nature’.

• Emma Yorke’s work has looked at communities of care and she has worked closely with Bruton Museum who have kindly lent artefacts related to the local silk industry
• Imogen Mansfield has responded to philosophies of planting and gardening, encircling particular themes within the Oudolf Field
• Mary Waltham, a biologist and artist, has made work that focuses on pond life and life in enclosed water masses.

The students have also created an interactive media wall within Hauser and WIrth Somerset’s Implement Shed. They are inviting the local community and gallery visitors to stick newspaper cuttings, images and text that relate to the climate emergency, our environment and nature, to the media wall. Visitors are welcome to bring their own newspaper cuttings or find material within the printed matter provided. This will be an on-going and collaborative project until Monday 2 January 2023.

If you are interested in joining our MA Arts and Place programme in April 2023, we are currently accepting applications. The postgraduate degree is one of the only courses in the UK to offer students the opportunity to develop their creative practice through real world, community- and climate-focussed residency placements. Please head to the course page via the button below to find out more information about the teaching on the course, to sign up to receive email updates about it, and to apply. Bursaries are available to applicants applying prior to our first application deadline on 26 October.