Measuring light and change across Hawarden Estate
What does an estate farm shop have to do with art? In the case of the Hawarden Estate, everything.
For its winter exhibition, 12 artists and designers were invited to respond to the theme Light and Change. Covers designed and produced an installation that turned the landscape itself into part of the work.
Client: Hawarden Estate Experience
Location: Hawarden, Wales
Scope: Concept, installation design, production
1,962 sq m of landscape became part of the installation
The process
The installation was built around a simple idea: make the changing position of light, visible.
Across 1,962 sq m, 16 wood-stained markers formed a grid for visitors to move through, measuring the shadows cast at different times of day and revealing how light shifts through the year. After sunset, spotlights transformed the same structure again, casting new patterns across the landscape.
The construction was considered in the same way as the concept. Water-based stains, hemp-fibre panels and ground spikes were chosen to reduce impact where possible, avoiding acrylic and permanent foundations.
The results
The result was an installation that changed with its surroundings. Visitors could walk through it, measure it, observe it and return to it at a different time to see something new.
Designed to be temporary and low-impact, the piece left the landscape largely untouched while creating a new way to experience it.
Kind words from Charlie:
“Adam created something for us that is not only elegant (deceptively so) but also genuinely thought provoking. You need to look at it and then dive into it and try to figure it out. Take time and get involved: it will reveal itself and it’s great.”
Charlie Gladstone
Founder, Hawarden Estate Experience
Project credits.
Commissioned by: Hawarden Estate Experience
Location: Hawarden, Wales
Scope: Concept, installation design, production
Year: 2021
Scale: 1,962 sq m
Materials: Water-based stain, white wood, hemp fibre, galvanised steel
Hemp origin: Margent Farm, Cambridgeshire
Woodwork: Lua Garcia
Studio photography: Tian Khee Siong
Installation photography: Covers
