Freeman's Wood

Freeman's Wood is a plot of land on the edge of the city of Lancaster in north west England where the interests of the local community have collided with those of global capital. Freeman’s Wood has been used by local people for decades, and they have regarded it as common land, but fencing was installed around it in 2012, resulting in public unrest and reports in the local press. This plot of land belongs to a company which is registered in Bermuda, and the director of the development company acting for them plays polo with Prince Charles. So this scrubby patch of land has direct links to global economic, political, and social networks.

"Landed (Freeman's Wood)" is an exploration of landownership through contemporary art. StoreyG2 commissioned three sets of artists to produce artworks to stimulate thought about, and raise awareness of, the issue of landownership. We want the project to reach a large audience, so we asked the artists to produce artworks in forms suitable for distribution on the internet, rather than objects for display in a gallery.

Layla Curtis has produced an iPhone app called TRESPASS, featuring GPS tracked conversations. The user has to consider trespassing to hear all of them.

Goldin+Senneby bought a plot of land and produced a script about its history. This script is now the description of the plot in a fake estate agent’s sale particulars.

Sans Facon created a board game which requires players to role-play the various stakeholders in a plot of land, and negotiate responses to various events.

Full details and the artworks are on our website http://www.storeyg2.org.uk