Art Matters: Creative Showcase at James Hutton Institute
The recent Art Matters event at James Hutton Institute drew a full house: film and spoken word performances, with a panel discussion exploring the way artists have brought a creative lens to some of the central questions of the Land Use for Net Zero, Nature and People (LUNZ) Hub and JUSTLANZ projects.
The event was held at the James Hutton Institute, where the Immersive suite with floor-to-ceiling wrap-around visuals provided a stunning setting. The performances reflected on issues ranging from peat restoration to tree planting, and from farmers’ visions of the future to the centring of soil in human-land relationships.
Introducing the work, the artists raised points about the power of art to enhance transdisciplinary discussions around land use – to offer novel lenses for enquiry, to take discussions in new directions and to ensure on-the-ground perspectives and experiences are considered alongside quantitative scientific data.
Following the performances, a panel discussion considered: “Is it time to think and live more artfully in our relationships with land?” Chaired by Star Molteno, Sustainable Land Use, Farming and Forestry Lead at Eunomia Research and Consulting, the conversation was wide ranging. Panellists discussed the way their work had shaped enquiries and methods of participation and interpretation, the importance of questioning assumed value systems, and using artistic interventions to ensure meaningful inclusion of a wide range of ‘stakeholders’ in the land use discussion.
The contributions
The PLACE Collective
Led by Harriet Fraser and Rob Fraser (somewhere nowhere) and formed in association with the UK’s Centre for National Parks and Protected Areas, the PLACE Collective brings artists into research programmes and discussions around human-land relationships, land management and environmental change. Their participation in the LUNZ Hub has led to a number of films, poems and other creative outputs. For the Art Matters event, they shared the ‘Resonance’ film, whose poetic narrative tells the story of the co-creation of a living, 100-year, sculpture in the Lake District National Park in a series of events convening conversations about land.
JUSTLANZ Creative Visions Workshop Artefacts
JUSTLANZ aims to develop transformative pathways for a just transition to net zero for the UK food- farming sector, considering local, regional and national priorities. As part of the research, creative visioning workshops were held at the Lauder Hills (Scotland) and Lough Erne (Northern Ireland). Each workshop explored desired visions for the food and farming systems within their landscapes in the context of fair outcomes for a just transition to net zero emissions, with artists co-running the workshops and producing work in response.
Dr Katie Ailes from the spoken word production organisation I am Loud joined the event to introduce her poem ‘Cattle and Curlews’. This poem was inspired by the vision of the farmers and food-farm businesses from the Lauder Hills and was shared in a film produced during the project, with the poem performed by Mark Gallie.
From Northern Ireland, farmer engagement officer and art therapist Genene Hunter introduced their project, with a reading by award-winning author LG Thomson from ‘The Sound of Fermanagh’. This narrative triptych that tells the story of a desired future for food and farming systems in transition to net zero at Lough Erne.
Creative Collaborative Placement Artists
The LUNZ Hub’s Creative Collaborative Placements (CCP) programme was initiated in 2025, giving a framework for artists from all four UK nations to join specialists from research, practice and policy, and to develop work in response to a specified topic.
The event shared two films from this programme. ‘If Not Now’ by multi-media artist Daksha Patel combined illustration, film footage and poetry: Daksha liaised with the Rothamsted Institute, enquiring into agroecosystem transitions in the context of a changing world. The second film, Strange Kin, was created by Becky Little and Tom Morton (Rebearth/Arc) who have worked with James Hutton Institute and farmers and land managers to explore The earth beneath our feet: understanding, regenerating, connecting.
For more information on this event, and the broader role of arts within a science/research setting contact Rob Fraser of the PLACE Collective via [email protected].
Reflections from this event will be compiled alongside evaluation of the arts component in the LUNZ Hub, and shared at the end of the project.
Harriet Fraser
Art Interventions & Artist Placements
Rob Fraser
Art Interventions & Artist Placements
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