Field study 1

Field Study takes the form of a looped PowerPoint presentation focusing upon the construction of complex histories of plants found in unlikely habitats, based on data recordings. The work, involving the collection and identification of plants growing at a specific time of year in a specific location (an uncultivated meadow in the west of Ireland), considers the significance of naming, categorization and translation. The form and duration of the work are defined by the task of collecting and identifying as many indigenous plants as possible until one non-indigenous species is found. The work combines methods of informal observation with scientific identification by an expert botanist. The work aims to operate as a metaphor for the flows of peoples and languages: the movements of invasion, colonisation and migration. A playful, ironic approach is adopted through the use of a PowerPoint presentation: a generic didactic device, used frequently for educational instruction. Field Study was commissioned for ‘I’m Spartacus at Gracelands’ (2010), an annual open-air art event devised by curator Vaari Claffey to provide an experimental context for social exchange, educational discourse and exhibition. International artists who have been shown at ‘Gracelands’ include Gerry Byrne, Sarah Pierce, Ryan Ganader, Joan Jonas and Elizabeth Price. In 2012 the work formed the basis of ‘eva: International Biennial of Visual Art’, Limerick, Ireland, curated by Annie Fletcher. As in much of Tallentire’s work the research methodology employed in Field Study is embedded in its staging and in particular in a context beyond the gallery where new paradigms for the production and reception of art are tested. A second version of Field Study, with French subtitles, was included in the group exhibition ‘Le Monde Physique’ at La Galerie , Contemporary Art Centre, Le Noisy le Sec, France (2011)