Andrew Langford

I find the coastal, semi-desert places that I visit in southern Spain creatively stimulating. The penetrative sunlight (more like an x-ray) illuminating the raw and exposed heterogeneous topography of the place for me leaves its mark, as does my physical interaction with the environment through walking and driving. The past and the present are intertwined and the landscape is littered with the interrelations of human agency (largely undertakings in mining and farming) and nature (transformations and settlements of matter through natural phenomena of vastly different scales and complexities). In the development of images, my approach is influenced by Actor Network Theory (ANT).

ANT began as a sociological theory developed by Bruno Latour, Michel Callon and John Law, but is now more widely considered within other disciplines, including the arts and landscape studies. ANT configures all things of any scale - human or non-human/conscious or non-conscious - as actors that interact and comprise a study network. It argues that all actors in the dynamic and heterogeneous network have equal importance and create interconnections and associations. Massey (2005) proposes an approach to understanding space as the product of interrelations and interactions “from the immensity of the global to the intimately tiny” “…predicated on the existence of plurality” “…always under construction.” If, as Massey proposes, space is always under construction and “is never finished; never closed” then these places where my images start are ideal surfaces into which I can weave my thoughts and feelings about impermanence and transience.

These spaces and first-hand experiences in the field activated what for me progressively became the questioning of dualistic absolutes and distinctions between nature and society and unlocked the possibility that such an analytical lens (dualistic thought) could itself be obscuring alternative ways of seeing and thinking about landscape, place and space. The aim of these images was to explore representational and optical hybrids which might then allude to, or suggest, a range of dynamic actants operating with a given network.

Education

• 2013
  • Currently registered for PhD by Publication, University of Northampton
• 2006
  • PGCert Research Supervisor
• 1995   
  • MA Electronic Arts, Coventry University
• 1994
  • PGDip Electronic Art & Graphics, Coventry University
• 1984
  • BA (Hons) Photography, Film & Television, University of Westminster

Employment & Teaching

Associate Lecturer: undergraduate courses in Fine Art and Photography
Postgraduate courses in Fine Art and Design (Photography)
PhD supervision
Bespoke arts and health project manager
Curriculum development and external validation/examination
Peer reviewer for conferences, symposia and Photographies journal (2013)

Awards and Grants

• 2012  
  • Santander Bank - project development grant
• 2007  
  • Arts and Humanities Research Council - Small Grant
• 2005  
  • Art Council England East Midlands - Grant
• 2002
  • Arts and Humanities Research Board - Visual Arts Grant
• 2001   
  • Arts and Humanities Research Board - Visual Arts Grant
• 2000  
  • Project Award - East Midlands Arts

Recent Publications

Emerging Lanscapes - between production and representation

Summary

Emerging Landscapes brings together scholars and practitioners working in a wide range of disciplines within the fields of the built environment and visual arts to explore landscape as an idea, an image, and a material practice in an increasingly globalized world.

My contribution is a new collection of my own photographic images which are contextualized through an essay entitled In-Transition. My essay introduces the use of Actor Network Theory as a non-dualistic analytical tool within landscape representation. Using my images and my reflections on making the work it explores ANT and its employment in the contested environment of the desert landscapes of southern Almeria in Spain. The essay introduces my methodologies on the various groups of images in the collection.

I’m particularly pleased that Ashgate and the editors selected one of my images for the book cover.

• 2013 
  • Image /text essay within new publication Emerging Landscapes to be published by Ashgate
• 2012   
  • Public lecture within ‘What is Contemporary Art?’ series, hosted by Milton Keynes Gallery. Title of talk: Landscape. Change. Photography. 22nd February
• 2010
  • Emerging Landscapes: Between Production and Representation. Paper delivered at international conference, University of Westminster June 25th - 27th
• 2011  
  • Exchange, research exhibitions and video conference on landscape and the arts held between staff at the University of Plymouth and the University of Northampton Co-ordinator Professor Liz Wells
• 2008 
  • Winter Growing Fields: Landscape and Estrangement. Catalogue ISBN 978-1-906398-02-
• 2007   
  • Invernaderos: Experiences of Almeria as a Corporatized Utilitarian Land, Global Photographies: Histories; Theories; Practices IADT, Dublin
• 2006  
  •  ‘12 Views’ Arts Research and Landscape, collaborative across the University of Northampton and The University of the Arts, Camberwell, London
• 2005   
  • Common Ground catalogue, ISBN 0-9550829-0-0
• 2003   
  • 'Uncertain Terrain', catalogue, ISBN O 905634 48 9

Selected Exhibitions

• 2013/14
  • Invited to co-curate and exhibit in new major exhibition on landscape and photography in the Centro Andaluz de la Fotografía in southern Spain - pending
• 2010   
  • Exchange, research exhibitions and video conferences on landscape and the arts held between staff at the University of Plymouth and the University of Northampton (co-coordinator Professor Liz Wells)
• 2008   
  • Winter Growing Fields: Landscape and Estrangement, AHRC funded solo exhibition, University of Northampton Gallery
• 2006   
  • Selected Artist within ‘FORMAT06’ Derby Photography Festival
• 2005  
  • Common Ground: Landscape and Contemporary Art, AHRC funded, Rugby Art Gallery and Museum,
• 2004
  • Pleasure Garden, commission within national group show, Nottingham Castle, July
• 2004   
  • Falling Away, AHRB funded research solo show, UCN The Gallery
• 2002
  • Liverpool Biennial of Contemporary Art, ‘Independent’ strand

Andrew Langford
e-mail: andrew.langford@northampton.ac.uk
a3lang@ntlworld.com
web :   www.andrewlangford.co.uk