‘Remember Nature’ Residency with Dartington Arts School, Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2022. Photo: Clare Walsh

‘Remember Nature’ Residency with Dartington Arts School Returns to Somerset

19 September 2023

A learning partnership inspired by the environmental concerns of artist and activist Gustav Metzger

From Monday 25 September – Friday 6 October, Hauser & Wirth Somerset will host a two-week residency for a second year with students from the Arts and Place MA course at Dartington Arts School. This year’s residents artists, Rosie May Jones and Liz Horn, will develop work responding to the theme of ‘Remember Nature,’ a project by artist and activist Gustav Metzger.  

As part of this year’s residency, Hauser & Wirth Somerset will be hosting studio drop-in sessions in the Education Lab, inviting members of the public to meet the two residency students, engage with their developing work and share stories to inform their practice and research. These studio drop-ins are taking place throughout the residency, Tuesday – Friday, 2 – 4 pm between 26 September – 6 October, in the run up to the community event on Friday 6 October. These events are free and all are welcome to join.

‘Remember Nature’ Residency with Dartington Arts School, Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2022. Photo: Clare Walsh

About the Artists
Rosie May Jones is a multidisciplinary artist and poet, specialising in spoken word, with a background in traditional oral storytelling. She creates performances and visual narratives based on folklore, as well as historical and contemporary accounts. Her work explores social and environmental issues, such as land rights, housing and our connection to the natural world.

Liz Horn is an interdisciplinary visual artist and researcher working in London and Yorkshire. Her work includes drawing, print, film and installation, exploring borders and displacement, erasure and memorialisation.

About The Gustav Metzger Foundation Scholarship  
Gustav Metzger came to the UK in 1939 as a refugee before dedicating his entire creative practice to social activism and challenging our perception of public art as a vehicle for change. His life-long activism to combat environmental destruction was fundamental to his provocative questioning of the role of the artist in society.  

Following Hauser & Wirth Somerset’s inaugural exhibition of Metzger’s work in 2021, the gallery launched the ‘Gustav Metzger Foundation Scholarship’ to support a student with refugee status study with Dartington Arts School on the Arts and Place MA course. This collaboration is part of Hauser & Wirth’s ongoing commitment to providing opportunities for equal access to higher education. Moreover, the scholarship establishes meaningful connections that continue Metzger’s legacy and vision. The partnership launched in 2022 with the first cohort of students, including Raman Feiz, the recipient of the 2022 Gustav Metzger Scholarship who is now undertaking his final year of study at Dartington.  

Installation view, ‘Gustav Metzger,’ Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2021. Photo: Ken Adlard

About ‘Remember Nature’
The ‘Remember Nature’ project was originally instigated by Gustav Metzger on 4 November 2015. Arts practitioners and students around the world were encouraged to participate in a Day of Action addressing global issues such as extinction, climate change and environmental pollution.  

About Dartington Arts School
Dartington Arts School is a key faculty of the Dartington Trust, a center for learning, arts, ecology and social justice based on a 1,200-acre estate near Totnes, Devon, UK. The Arts and Place MA course is a transdisciplinary residency-based program focusing on the complexities of the field as a place of practice, exploring its imaginative and material processes. 

Gustav Metzger was awarded an Honorary Fellow of Dartington Arts School in 2001 and was part of a rich interdisciplinary community of staff and students working to be change-agents for a sustainable future. Metzger had a profound insight into our relationship and interdependency with nature. Whilst at Dartington, he spoke extensively about his environmental concerns. 

‘Remember Nature’ Residency with Dartington Arts School, Hauser & Wirth Somerset, 2022. Photo: Clare Walsh