Which Way Will the Wind Blow?

KAREN EMSLIE reports from Shetland on a new artistic contribution to one of the most pressing current debates in the Highlands & Islands – windfarms

THE ISSUE of industrial sized wind farms is controversial and can be extremely divisive in small communities, as seen recently in the Western Isles. Shetland now faces a similar and equally contentious public debate with Viking Energy Partnership’s proposal to build 154 wind turbines, each 145 metres (476 feet) high, on the islands.

The letters page in The Shetland Times and threads on online community forums show that the debate is becoming increasingly heated. The arguments are passionate and range from the economic to the environmental.

Discord and debate are expressed in many forms and now a Shetland art gallery is encouraging the use of its walls for such expression. Vaila Fine Art in Lerwick, usually the home of well-documented 19th-21st century fine art, has opened its doors to any artist who wishes to make work in response to the proposals.

The exhibition is entitled 2 Lge 4 ZE / 2 Small 4 the PLANET. The title refers to the belief that the windfarm is an inappropriate scale for Shetland (ZE being the Shetland postal code) and that the project will make no difference to climate change. The whole of the oak-panelled front room of the gallery has been given over to the show, which will continue for as long as the debate does.

Artists at their best are loose cannons and can usually be trusted to find a way to enhance an argument. This is why the door is open and contents uncensored

As gallery owner Dorota Rychlik explains: “The true inspiration for the exhibition was a letter called Bad Dream written by Shetland-based artist Paul Bloomer. It was originally published in The Shetland Timesand on The Shetland News website.”

The letter spurred Rychlik into artistic action; “Paul felt the need to express his concern about the Viking Energy Partnership proposal and its consequences for the visually literate and environmentally aware inhabitants of the islands. I felt moved by his letter and his work and simply had to contribute a place to show the work.”

The striking and bleak woodcuts can now be seen in the windows of the gallery at the south end of Lerwick’s Commercial Street. They show the Shetland landscape dominated by a tangle of enormous turbines. They are not intended as a literal portrayal but to give expression to his fears for the land and for the inhabitants’ psyches.

As Bloomer says of his work, “Artists for the most part have little choice over their subject matter. They respond to the time, place and culture they live in, in ways and forms that express their world view. Personally I would rather not have my art increasingly dominated by fighting visions of forests of wind farms taking over the landscape of Shetland and would rather draw birds flying freely in the sky but feel I have little choice in the matter.”

Rychlik herself put pen to paper and wrote an Open Letter to Banksy which was published in the Shetland Times and a companion Open Letter to Andy Goldsworthy published on the Shetland News website. She encouraged artists to take over the gallery and make work that expressed how they felt about the proposals and to convey this to the wider community

Artists who have submitted work to date include names well-known both locally and internationally. Several make straight-talking statements, such as Ron Sandford in Viking Erections: Vulgar & Insensitive, The Height of Folly & In Your Face. Or Richard Swales’, Stuff It, which simply and colourfully gives two (turbine-tipped) fingers to the plans.

Contributors concerns vary. Unsurprisingly, fears about the visual impact of the windfarm are strongly represented but other worries are also expressed, one being the sound that the turbines will make.

Roxane Permar’s S.O.S. Sounds of Silence asks us to consider the health issues surrounding the way noise disturbance can erode peace of mind and undermine physical well being.

“I have made the piece from a recording of wind generators that are similar in scale to those proposed for Shetland. Each of ten CD covers carries a different text taken from the writings of Dr Nina Pierpont, a medical doctor who has coined the term ‘Wind Turbine Syndrome’ to describe the symptoms experienced by people who live near industrial wind turbines.”

Fear about the effects of sound are also expressed by mother/ daughter collaborators, Susan Timmins and Freya Inkster. Birds Blades Shadows, is a short experimental sound piece. As Timmins explains “Birds Blades Shadows is an imagined nightmare flight through a noisy, chaotic and dangerous forest of turbines. It expresses in sound how we are thinking and feeling about the proposed windfarm and how it will affect Shetland.”

Mike McDonnell’s 2nd Viking Invasion, 21st Century cuts sharp wit into wood to create a bold construction. A hard-hat adorned with Viking horns is worn by a suited man. He clutches a check-list contract “Environmental Threat, Landslide Prospects, Birdkill Estimates…” and so on. They all receive big, red ticks.

Debbie Hammond’s imagined Crofter stands before his window in a bright mixed media work. Hammond explains, “Johnnie o da Burns looked out his window for the last 78 years, and loved his view of the hills and the burns. Now all he sees are the dozens of 145 metre wind generators on the hills and the mass destruction of everything he knew and loved of his life in Shetland.”

Richard Rowland’s etching Sacrifice or Redemption? depicts the Viking Energy windfarm as a Calvary. It is a beautiful yet disturbing image where three giant turbines are presented as crucifixes towering over the landscape.

Rowland address the use of such powerful imagery, “I have not set out to offend Christian believers. But I acknowledge that the Crucifixion is probably the most iconic image in the western world. My favourite etching is the 4th state of Rembrandt’s “Three Crosses”, its visual impact is incredible.

It shows the Calvary arising out of a crowd of on-lookers, slowly comprehending that something terrible and awesome is happening. My image has no crowds in it; just the gaunt hills being despoiled by progress. The jury is out on whether this windfarm project will be a Sacrifice or Redemption for Shetland.”

The artists express fear, dismay, anger and objection. Likewise, the title of the exhibition makes the Gallery’s position clear. However, Rychlik is keen to point out that artists who are in favour of the proposals can also contribute and that representatives of Viking Energy are welcome. Indeed, she is pleased to note that one has already visited, “The representative of Viking Energy visited the show and made himself known to me, which was very sporting of him.”

David Thomson, also of Viking Energy, has not himself been to the show but does support the artists freedom to contribute to the debate,

“Art probably does have a role in major projects, because it’s just one of many ways of communicating and indeed provoking debate. Viking Energy has encouraged the debate about the windfarm proposals since day one.”

Thomson believes that the windfarm will bring great benefits to Shetland, “The Viking Windfarm project is not merely worthwhile because it will produce billions of units of much needed electricity every year without pollution or consumption of fossil fuels but it is also important because the profits from the project will support Shetland’s overstretched community funds into the future.”

He goes on to cite culture as a potential beneficiary, “The returns to this community achieved by the Viking Windfarm would allow the local support for the cultural aspects to continue and perhaps expand.”

Objectors argue that the economic benefits are far from clear and in Rychlik’s words are based on “woolly” financial projections. Sustainable Shetland, a group in favour of renewable energy but who believe that, “The proposed Viking Energy wind farm is the wrong project in the wrong place”, also believe the econmic argument is flawed. They state that, “The Viking Energy wind farm plans are financially risky and will damage the Shetland environment.”

Clearly the arguments from all sides will go on. But in the meantime Vaila Fine Art will continue to provide an open and lively platform for debate.

And this is Rychlik’s intention: “Artists at their best are loose cannons and can usually be trusted to find a way to enhance an argument. This is why the door is open and contents uncensored.”

New work from across the UK and further afield continues to be welcome from any artist who wishes to respond, including work previously unshown at the Gallery. The exhibition will continue until, as Rychlik puts it, “the need for it ceases to exist.”

© Karen Emslie, 2008

Links

• Vaila Fine Art