The journey is the destination
Timelines is an art installation that explores ideas about history, memory and our relationship to the land. Fifteen sections, each with its own name and identity, are positioned along a four-kilometre trail through natural woodland and former farm fields.
Conceived as a journey that engages a walker’s senses and mind, Timelines can be undertaken and experienced on many different levels: as a pleasant stroll, an occasion for contemplation or an examination of what has come before, either in broad historic terms or in more personal ways. Timelines is not a representation of the past but rather an exploration of how the past shapes the present, and how present actions extend into the future. Like many journeys, the reward comes in response to what the walker invests.
The trail begins with an installation honouring the Abenaki, the original inhabitants of the land that is now Glen Villa Art Garden. It does not proceed chronologically; instead, installations are located in relation to the shape of the land, its historic uses and the artist’s imaginative response. This non-linear approach draws attention to the interrelation of events at different points in time. It also offers opportunities to consider the different ways in which we experience time: momentary meetings, repeated encounters, one-time events that leave lasting impressions.
Each installation is named, to express its particular character, with the name acting as a guide to the artist’s intentions as well as suggesting ways in which sections relate to one another. The colour red is a unifying element of this work, in part because it stands out in the landscape no matter the season, but more significantly because of its multiple connotations: anger, danger, life, love. These various meanings co-exist, as do the associations and contradictions of the fifteen installations along the trail. A single project expressing many points of view, Timelines embodies an idea expressed by T.S. Eliot in his poem “Little Gidding”:
We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.
→ Explore Glen Villa Timelines with our INTERACTIVE illustrated map.
PLACE CURSOR OVER MAP NUMBERS AND CLICK ON THUMBNAILS.
→ CLICK PHOTOS below to see more images and a description of each project.
