Field Club
Hinterlands was a group exhibition held at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art (October 22nd 2022 – April 30th 2023), featuring Michele Allen, Uma Breakdown, Jo Coupe, Foundation Press, Laura Harrington, Emily Hesse, Alexandra Hughes, Dawn Felicia Knox, Mani Kambo, Sheree Angela Matthews, Anne Vibeke Mou and Sabina Sallis. The exhibition invited the audience to consider our relationship with the land and its ecosystems. The artists showcased explore complex histories, mythologies, legacies and potential futures for its custodianship. For Hinterlands, Foundation Press produced a new collection of risograph prints titled 'Field Club', that celebrates one of the oldest naturalist groups in the North East of England, The Cleveland Naturalists’ Field Club (formed 1881). The Club ‘seeks to promote an interest in all branches of natural history and to assist members in finding out about the living things they see in the countryside around them'*.
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Working with images from the Field Club’s expansive archive, held within Teesside Archives, as well as collaborating directly with current members of the club, Foundation Press have arranged the diverse investigations of the group into playful patterns that reference display cases and museological presentations of nature.
In addition, Foundation Press designed a new typeface, titled Hinterlands, especially for this exhibition. This letter set was inspired by a typeface used on the cover of the Cleveland Naturalist Field Club’s Record of Proceedings booklet from 1905. The new typeface features alternate characters that show the letterforms slowly overtaken by nature, like abandoned architecture in a forest.
* 'Welcome to the Cleveland Naturalists’ Field Club', available to read: www.clevelandnats. org.uk
Install view images credit: Rob Harris © 2022 BALTIC.