GATESHEAD.- BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead presents Tris Vonna-Michell in partnership with the National Trust.

As part of The Residents series Tris Vonna-Michell has produced a new narrative installation, using slides, sounds and spoken word in response to his residency at the National Trust property at Gibside, Rowlands Hill, Tyne and Wear.

Vonna-Michell spent his residency in and around the Gibside site to engage with the historical and present day context of the pleasure grounds. Coal baron George Bowes, the great, great, great grandfather of the late Queen Mother, landscaped the 18th Century grounds in the Georgian ‘grand design’. Today the once great hall is in ruins and has become a haven for local wildlife.

From his research into the surrounding nature and wildlife during the residency at Gibside, Vonna-Michell’s new work explores notions of classic wilderness and the changing endeavours and aesthetics of landscape architects, strategically realigning and pursuing the natural contours of English landscape garden design.

The installation at BALTIC interweaves storytelling with projections, images and sound recordings, reviewing the shifting landscape, as well as critically narrating the transferral of cultural capital from one era to the next.

The Residents is a National Trust artist-in-residence programme developed as part of Trust New Art in partnership with Arts Council England. Curated by Inheritance Projects, The Residents is hosting three artists in National Trust properties across three regions for up to 6 months during which time they critically engaged with the historical and contemporary contexts of the properties. Work produced during each placement will be exhibited on-site at the National Trust properties and in nearby galleries throughout 2012.

Tris Vonna-Michell lives and works in Stockholm, recent solo exhibitions include; Metro Pictures, New York (2011), Focal Point Gallery, South End-on-Sea (2010), Jeu de Paume Satellite, Paris (2010).