About
Blast Radius brings together artists, researchers and specialists in art, heritage and environmental science to explore contemporary sites through the lens of wildlife, ecology and history/heritage research.
Active field research, creative collaboration and exploration of archival materials create dialogues and presentations in art practice to stimulate new ways of examining and understanding the landscape around us.
The impetus for developing Blast Radius has come from Jane Watt and SE Barnet’s ongoing fascination with the fragile, and hostile environment of Orford Ness, on the East Anglian coast.
Artists Jane Watt and SE Barnet are currently working with a range of artists and researchers focusing on two sites in coastal Suffolk, UK.
The first is the incredible environment of the internationally significant Orford Ness National Nature Reserve on Suffolk’s coast as part of their on-going research into ways in which to map this unique landscape through drawing, film, sound and photography.
The second is in Martlesham Wilds on the tidal River Deben. Here they are working with wildlife ecology and conservation researchers together with Suffolk WIldlife trust on an art-science longitudinal study
Orford Ness, Suffolk
For centuries the remote spit of shingle on the East Anglian coastline has been a place to test new ideas and technologies. One of the primary agendas during Orford Ness’ time during the twentieth century as host to the military, was the testing of explosions towards measuring the extent of destructive capacities. Blast Radius employs similar evaluative technologies, but towards the creation of artworks and the assessment of a site’s ecology. At the heart of our agenda is the impact of a creative impulse.
Find out more about the Internationally important coastal nature reserve owned by the National Trust
Martlesham Wilds, Suffolk
Martlesham Wilds is a new nature reserve being created by Suffolk Wildlife Trust. The site is almost 300 acres on Matlesham Creek, part of the tidal River Deben within the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty and across the river from Sutton Hoo. SE Barnet and Jane Watt are working with ecologists Dr Mark Bowler and Dr Daniel Mills (Researchers and Senior Lecturers in Wildlife, Environmental and Conservation) on a longitudinal study to evaluate ecological change through an art-science collaborative approach. The project examines the east Suffolk coastal river site as it transforms to a new pastoral landscape from one focused on arable agriculture to natural rewilding.
Find out more about the Suffolk Wildlife Trust’s Martlesham Wilds project.
