'Yn Adrodd Pumlumon' | Telling Plynlimon : Performing a Future of a Welsh Upland Landscape
Lead Research Organisation:
University College London
Department Name: Bartlett Sch of Architecture
Abstract
My practice-led architectural exploration of the Welsh mountain Pumlumon seeks to contribute to renegotiation of the farming/'rewilding' binary arising within current debate over the future of the Welsh uplands. Where this binary has been linked to spatial identity, my research looks to 'include' spatial identities currently marginalised between poles of debate over Pumlumon, which as borderland and mythic heartland of Wales and host to pioneering landscape regeneration project, Summit to Sea (S2S), holds clear significance. Anticipating a cease in EU farming subsidies following Brexit, and following the Welsh Assembly Goverment's Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and recent declaration of climate emergency, the timing of my research is critical.
Positioning myself as architect-teller on Pumlumon, I call up ancient links between telling and mountains to explore how architectural practices of walking, drawing and writing site, as modes of telling, move between: oral traditions and writing; mountain and archive; human and non-human; 'agri' and culture; past, present and future. Noting how cultural narratives inform 'shifting baselines' in landscape conservation/ecology, I look to tell relationships between past, present and future on Pumlumon through re-performance of cultural narratives of the mountain, on the mountain, in collaboration with diverse public multi stakeholder groups. I draw on archives held at The National Library of Wales (NLW), which lies at Pumlumon's feet, to inform sites, modes and outputs of walking-drawing-writing between 'twin archives' of mountain and library. Walking-archiving, walking-commuting and walking-foraging, I tell past, mobile-human, and non-human spatial identities marginalised within current debate over Pumlumon. My tellings will culminate in an exhibited/performed 'archif' (archive), 'datganiad' (manifesto) and 'llyfr cyfarwyddyd' (book of remedies) of Pumlumon to be archived at NLW.
The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 requires public bodies to work in a joined-up way to improve environmental, economic, cultural and social well-being, emphasising the importance of Welsh culture and language. To contribute research to evolving legislation under this Act, I seek to join-up and collaborate with the communities of Pumlumon, NLW and S2S. Where S2S has won support from the Welsh Assembly Government but elicited tensions between 'rewilding' advocates and the farming community, I ask what my performance research might offer both Pumlumon's communities and S2S. Further, where my research joins NLW, 'the living memory of the nation', and Pumlumon, 'mythic heartland' of Wales, I aim to contribute to Pumlumon's communities, NLW, and S2S, by situating NLW spatially and environmentally on Pumlumon, and highlighting the relevance of 'invisible' archived narratives to marginalised identities within current debate over the future of Pumlumon.
Aims
1. Explore how performance-writing on Pumlumon informs bio-political relations within the Welsh uplands, and between architecture and mountains more broadly.
2. Investigate and communicate the agency of architectural practice/research in renegotiation of the farming/'rewilding' binary within debate over the Welsh uplands.
3. Explore how the architect-teller acts as architect-archivist, architect-activist and architect-healer on Pumlumon, and establish the significance of this for architectural practice.
Questions
1. How does performance-writing on Pumlumon inform debate over the Welsh uplands and wider bio-political relations between architecture and mountains?
2. How does architecture intersect with farming, and with 'rewilding', and how can architectural research inform renegotiation of the farming/'rewilding' binary?
3. How does an architect's performance of writing-drawing-walking entangle with spatial identity on Pumlumon in the figure of the architect-archivist, architect-activist and architect-healer?
Positioning myself as architect-teller on Pumlumon, I call up ancient links between telling and mountains to explore how architectural practices of walking, drawing and writing site, as modes of telling, move between: oral traditions and writing; mountain and archive; human and non-human; 'agri' and culture; past, present and future. Noting how cultural narratives inform 'shifting baselines' in landscape conservation/ecology, I look to tell relationships between past, present and future on Pumlumon through re-performance of cultural narratives of the mountain, on the mountain, in collaboration with diverse public multi stakeholder groups. I draw on archives held at The National Library of Wales (NLW), which lies at Pumlumon's feet, to inform sites, modes and outputs of walking-drawing-writing between 'twin archives' of mountain and library. Walking-archiving, walking-commuting and walking-foraging, I tell past, mobile-human, and non-human spatial identities marginalised within current debate over Pumlumon. My tellings will culminate in an exhibited/performed 'archif' (archive), 'datganiad' (manifesto) and 'llyfr cyfarwyddyd' (book of remedies) of Pumlumon to be archived at NLW.
The Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 requires public bodies to work in a joined-up way to improve environmental, economic, cultural and social well-being, emphasising the importance of Welsh culture and language. To contribute research to evolving legislation under this Act, I seek to join-up and collaborate with the communities of Pumlumon, NLW and S2S. Where S2S has won support from the Welsh Assembly Government but elicited tensions between 'rewilding' advocates and the farming community, I ask what my performance research might offer both Pumlumon's communities and S2S. Further, where my research joins NLW, 'the living memory of the nation', and Pumlumon, 'mythic heartland' of Wales, I aim to contribute to Pumlumon's communities, NLW, and S2S, by situating NLW spatially and environmentally on Pumlumon, and highlighting the relevance of 'invisible' archived narratives to marginalised identities within current debate over the future of Pumlumon.
Aims
1. Explore how performance-writing on Pumlumon informs bio-political relations within the Welsh uplands, and between architecture and mountains more broadly.
2. Investigate and communicate the agency of architectural practice/research in renegotiation of the farming/'rewilding' binary within debate over the Welsh uplands.
3. Explore how the architect-teller acts as architect-archivist, architect-activist and architect-healer on Pumlumon, and establish the significance of this for architectural practice.
Questions
1. How does performance-writing on Pumlumon inform debate over the Welsh uplands and wider bio-political relations between architecture and mountains?
2. How does architecture intersect with farming, and with 'rewilding', and how can architectural research inform renegotiation of the farming/'rewilding' binary?
3. How does an architect's performance of writing-drawing-walking entangle with spatial identity on Pumlumon in the figure of the architect-archivist, architect-activist and architect-healer?
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Jane Rendell (Primary Supervisor) | |
| Zoe Helen Quick (Student) |