DAVID HALEY ON THE RECORD
Erika Yarrow talks to the artist and academic.
David Haley is an artist, academic, poet and all round creative
intellect who refuses to be pigeon-holed. He describes
himself as an 'artist without style'. This is not
self-deprecation, but a statement of intent. His work is
constantly evolving, beyond any constraints of method, media or
technique. His work envelops the rural and the urban.
He is as comfortable in a room of scientists and engineers, as he
is in the gallery or lecture theatre. He finds inspiration on
the streets of Manchester and in Cumbria's wild expanse. And
he has undertaken projects of which many a water or biodiversity
expert would be proud.
Whilst working with Welfare State International in the early
1990s David undertook a project at their headquarters, a Victorian
school in the Cumbrian town of Ulverston. He knew that the
culverted town beck flowed near the school and sought to restore it
to its former glory. 'I spent six or seven months trying to
get permission to unculvert the river,' explains David. 'It
was at the time when the National Rivers Authority was handing over
to the Environment Agency. When I eventually got permission
to go ahead with the project the Planning Officer said he had never
heard of someone applying to unculvert a river.'
Once the river was revealed nature added its own creative juices
to the project. 'The following spring we had kingfishers
visiting us,' David marvels. 'The whole experience defined for me
what I wanted to do with my art.' Front this point David's work has
taken many turns and been expressed in various ways, the constant
throughout, however, are the themes of water, evolution and climate
change.
David's work has brought him into contact with many scientists
and engineers. But when I ask him about collaborations
between the arts and science he is adamant that the role of art is
not just to educate the public or translate a scientific
message. He comments: 'There has been a fashion for
science/arts projects where the arts have sought to illustrate a
scientific problem. This does neither discipline any
favours.' David explains that rather than simply providing an
accessible vehicle, art is at its most successful in collaboration
with other disciplines, when it extends the skills base, opening up
a subject for examination, without preconception or defined
methodology.
He continues: 'Climate change is an ennobling problem, an issue
that brings together all disciplines, without hierarchy. It
is the most urgent matter of our time and we must come together to
consider how we might live with climate change. Because of
economic values we are focusing on the carbon issue, but other
issues need to be taken into consideration, species loss for
example.' As an artist David is able to ask the questions
that the engineer or scientist may not. 'Why are we developing the
Thames Gateway when the south-east is over-populated and likely to
become water scarce, for example? As an artist I can become a
critical voice,' he concludes.
'A Drop In the Ocean, A Trace of Life' is a conceptual idea that
David plans to develop into a 'live artwork' that follows the
course of a bacterium from the River Mersey as it completes its
cycle through the north Atlantic tidal and weather systems.
'Bacteria evolve very quickly,' David explains. 'Bacteria can live
in many different climates. So the project will consider whether
climate change is an act of evolution - climate change
as a biological expression. Does is actually have a
life?'
Working with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology David has
helped scientists to move away from a traditional linier ways of
problem solving to a more holistic method of questioning.
'Scientists no longer spend much time in the field using all their
senses. A lot of their work is based on data gathering
systems, numbers and statistics. They are using linier
methodologies to try to resolve non-linier problems,' says
David. Concluding: 'Technology is just another
discipline, it won't solve anything. Even if it slows down
the situation, we will still have a 30-year cycle of climate
change. The most urgent thing is how we adapt.
Industries need to start thinking outside of the box.'
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