SurvØY
an artist survey of an island.
ØY = island
A 4-year Creative Scotland funded collaboration by
Saoirse Higgins and artist Jonathan Ford.
SurvØY was developed as a contemporary artist ‘island almanac’, surveying and monitoring varying scales of change in the context of island environments. In particular focusing on multiple viewpoints for resilient, caring, adaptive systems, providing a model benchmark to measure against for future generation islanders, islands and communities in times of rapid environmental change.
SurvØY reflects on the uniqueness of islands and their pioneering agency and viewpoint in a world of environmental crisis. The project is placed in the historical context of long-term island surveys by pioneers such as Robert Praeger in Clare Island and Murdoch McKenzie in Orkney.
Building on the foundation of four years of island-based research and experimentation, we are able to sense and read the patterns of change in the landscape. SurvØY manifests itself in a series of concentrated audio-visual collaborative surveys that culminate in an exhibition-audio visual, performance and collected objects, a limited edition printed publication with pull-out map/manual, with a dedicated website and online audio-video content. Design of the publication is in progress and a collaboration with JuJu books, Glasgow. Launching in early 2025 together with the exhibition.