On Wednesday the 9th of March I planted some 18 Moringa Oleifera ‘Miracle Tree’ seeds in small pots and placed them behind the curtain in the study room at Nottingham Contemporary. On Friday 18th of March the first shoots of the germinated trees were seen. Of the 18 seeds planted 14 germinated. It was from one of the 4 failed seeds that the ‘miracle tree’ tattoo emerged.
Read MoreMiracle Trees - Nottingham Contemporary 2011
In March of 2010 John Newling was approached to develop a work in collaboration with Bronislaw Szerszynski of the Department of Sociology and the ESRC Centre for the Economic and Social Aspects of Genomics (CESAGen), Lancaster University.
Read More688 Days: Remembering the Lemon Tree
The Lemon Tree & Me evolved as an intense co-relationship where the material expression of the work was the result of that relationship; a working from life; a love song; sung for 688 days. The Lemon Tree and Me (Tuesday 24th March 2009 - Wednesday 9th February 2011)
Read MoreSinging Uncertainty
Singing Uncertainty continues the thread of an earlier work. In 1994 Locus+ commissioned the project ‘Skeleton’ for All Saints Church, Newcastle Upon Tyne. A principal element of this project was a hymn book that had been edited to show only the questions that were written in the hymns.
Read MoreRedistribution / Permanence - Peterborough Soil (final phase)
The 4 phases of the Peterborough Soil project
Read MoreThe Clearing (final installation)
“My hope is that the clearing will be happened upon by many and that the site will become a poetic convergence of material and meaning; a place of peace and illumination; a sited work that becomes a place.”
Read MoreRedistribution / Permanence
Redistribution / Permanence Peterborough Soil [final phase] Phase 4 of the project saw the constructed soil returned to the City of Peterborough. The soil was placed into the fabric of the newly constructed St Johns Square. The live event of this action ‘Redistribution’ saw the soil becoming a permanent element of the nourishment of the grassed area that people will stand, sit and walk across in the square. In this manner the soil that is metaphorically and actually a soil containing the images and texts of Peterborough submitted by people from Peterborough will forever be at a border between people and the earth, a kind of live archaeological presence; an intelligent soil enriched with a renewed belief in the values of us.
Read MoreSinging Uncertainty
A public artwork by John Newling. An a capella choral performance piece involving 150 members of the public explores the nature of doubt and the struggle for faith expressed in the Methodist Church’s hymn book.
Read MoreThe Clearing - Part II
Read More'The Clearing is a space defined by nine Beech trees growing in soil constructed through the histories of their hinterland. My hope is that the clearing will be happened upon by many and that the site will become a poetic convergence of material and meaning; a place of peace and illumination.’JOHN NEWLING
The Clearing – A Notebook, 2010
"Gathering knowledge is something that our forebears have done for generations in pursuit of the spirit of the clearing. I hope that this notebook will encourage you to gather your own."
Read MoreSinging Uncertainty – The Fragility of a Longed for Certainty, 2010
Singing Uncertainty – The Fragility of a Longed for Certainty Published in 2010 as part of John Newling's commission for Sideshow 2010. Designed by Joff & Ollie
Read MoreSynthia II - code/soil/life
The work records an experimentation that is a relationship of meaning and materiality constructing, cultivating and reviewing a poetics of responsibility. It is a relationship that advocates an intelligent ecology based on values that are immanent in the complex workings of nature.
Read MoreLocal History - April- July 2010
I have been collecting and pressing many leaves and flowers from the Root Zone site. These pressings will then be placed into all the books in the local history section of the local library in Sherwood. Sherwood library has a comprehensive section on local history. I will be placing one or two of the pressing into each book. I have on a few occasions been reading a book and come across a pressed flower or leaf and know that it is a strange and oddly personal encounter.
Read MoreRoot Zone - April - 2010
Root Zone continues my work on the relationship between the natural environment and me; a relationship of meaning and materiality that constructs, cultivates and reviews a poetics of responsibility. It is a relationship that advocates an intelligent ecology based on values that are immanent in the complex workings of nature. Between ethics, ecology and aesthetics I hope for my work to find a new ground in a generative programme of intensive care to influence our responsibilities as gardeners of the public domain.
Read MoreNatural History - January – March 2010
Natural history is a series of small sculptures that were formed during the Peterborough Soil installation (January – February 2010). Each of nine small spheres was taken out of the compost tumbler over a period of eight weeks, one per week. The series nine spheres reflect the transition from paper text to soil. These are the first of a number of sculptural works that form from moulding the soils I construct.
Read MoreThe Lemon Tree, The Collection - New Aquisition
For many years now I have been making works that investigate material transformations that evolve through processes that weave in and out of transactions with places, people and, more recently, with other living entities. The Lemon Tree continues this thread of expression and research.
Read MoreJohn Newling Peterborough Soil
The redevelopment of Peterborough’s city centre is not just a cleaning of its environment; it is essentially a renewal of the commitment to the people who occupy its public realm. To this end John Ealing’s project seeks to generate phases of work that evolves through a series of transactions and transformations creating art works inclusive of the city of Peterborough and its natural environment.
Read MoreStamping Uncertainty, Worcester Cathedral, The Chapter House
Questions found in hymns: exploring the nature of doubt and the struggle for faith
Read MoreThe Clearing, Hinterland - Nottingham
John Newling will be collecting and copying key documents relating to the different history of spaces adjacent to the River Trent and the industrial wastelands of Nottingham which have an emphasis on changing values and shifting architectural or ground use. This collection of documents will be shredded and transformed into soil. Using a laboratory provided by Bio City, the artist will then conduct a number of experiments. In this first phase of the project the laboratory will house a hydroponics system that endeavours to grow Beech trees.
Read MoreWhat we do to make ourselves feel better - Wellcome Collection / Frieze Art Fair
In October 2008 John Newling conducted a survey with the Wellcome Collection to find out 'What people do to make themselves feel better'. (See 'Make a Piano in Spain project'). The findings were then reconfigured to present a poetic insight into 21st century self medication.
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