Our Active Environmentalism programme builds our knowledge and ways of seeing and considering our relationship with our environment.
Our own decisions and reasonings are personal but by being informed there is no doubt we are in a better position to make the right choices. Collectively they can help add up to positive change.
Register interest to be kept up to date with future talks and events
Lisa Blair Sails the World
Lisa Blair’s Climate Action Now was born as a means to spread this message, to empower communities to become involved and give individuals a voice on how we can support a positive climate future. As part of this project Lisa has launched a ‘Post it Note’ campaign which will become an art installation with messages of individual efforts to help the environment.
Send us your message to become part of the artwork.
Image credit : Corrina Ridgeway
EVENTS AND EXHIBITIONS
EPHEMERAL BEAUTY
& SCULPTURE IN THE SANDS
24 May – 22 June 2025
In an exploration of creativity and non-hydrocarbon materials, Messums Org invited artists to submit a proposal for a large-scale, site-specific, ephemeral work of art to be previewed in the 13th century tithe barn at Messums West as part of the gallery’s Active Environmentalism programme from 24 May to 14 June 2025; and then presented at the First Light Festival on the beach at Lowestoft on the 21st and 22nd June.
LIVING IN A MATERIAL WORLD: ART, MAKING & THE ENVIRONMENT
Active Environment Symposium
Saturday 14 June 2025
In an age of environmental crises, what is the future of making? It is clear that we cannot justify continuing to extract the planet’s dwindling resources and create objects which neither last, nor can be recycled; so, as a species, we must find a new, sustainable way to exist, or face extinction. Key to this development is a fresh consideration of materials combined with the power of creativity and imagination.
PAST EXHIBITIONS & EVENTS
LANDSCAPE PAINTING TODAY
11 January – 24 February 2025
“You can cut all the flowers, but you can’t keep spring from coming” – Pablo Neruda
The exhibition originated in an open call out which aimed to discover new and exciting work being produced by emerging and mid-career artists outside the gallery’s immediate sphere. The incredible global response resulted in a hugely successful exhibition at Messums London in 2024.
OH! IS FOR OCEAN: ACTIVE ENVIRONMENTALISM SYMPOSIUM
Sunday 6 October 2024
The symposium ‘Oh! Is for Oceans’ took place at Messums West on 5 October 2024 in partnership with Ocean Rising (an alliance connecting the ocean with culture) is dedicated to the understanding of our oceans with leading scientists and experts giving a series of presentations on a range of topics and the latest discoveries.
TESSA CAMPBELL FRASER 'WHALES - A DEEPER DIALOGUE'
6 October – 6 January 2025
Tessa Campbell Fraser aimed to unravel the interspecies communications between man and animal that are currently at the forefront of scientific research. Three monumental (5.2m, 4.6m and 3m respectively) sculptures of sperm whales were suspended from the roof of the tithe barn.
TIM GEORGESON AND WILLIAM BARTON 'THE HIDDEN'
6 May – 9 July 2023
The Hidden was a sound and film installation by Australian filmmaker and artist Tim Georgeson and composer, performer and proud Kalkadunga man, William Barton. It offers a personal account of the Bundanon land and waterscapes in New South Wales, Australia.
SHAUN FRASER
26 April – 26 May 2023
Shaun Fraser’s work frequently comments upon notions of identity, links to landscape and connections with place. His practice questions how the landscapes, spaces and places which we inhabit form us and can be translated through personal engagement, privileging one’s own memory as a principal source.
TIDELINE
7 May – 3 July 2022
The artists selected engage and expand our understanding of this extraordinary ecosystem and bellwether to change. Their work sets out not just to alert and inform, but to key into our empathy with the underwater environment, to sow the seeds of our imagination and drum up our own sense of agency for change.
SONIA LEBER AND DAVID CHESWORTH 'WHAT LISTENING KNOWS'
16 July – 5 September 2021
What Listening Knows was a 3-channel audio and video installation by Australian artists Sonia Leber & David Chesworth. Three performers acted as ‘field recordists’ in the landscape.
UNKEMPT
16 July – 12 September 2021
Unkempt was an exhibition recognising the advent of a changing aesthetic in landscape – one that is by its nature wild, messy and more empathetic to the environment.
GROUND
7 May – 5 June 2021
Common is the ground we stand on, and perhaps what is now taking place is a shift in our own aesthetics, based on that common knowledge that is helping us to see and appreciate our landscape through subtly different filters.
TALKS ARCHIVE
January 2021
Online conversation with Olly Steeds on his mission to accelerate the sequencing of the ocean genome.
Oliver is Chief Executive and Mission Director of Nekton – a not-for-profit, charitable research foundation established to accelerate the scientific exploration and protection of the ocean.
ENVIRONMENTALISM & CONSERVATION WITH BEN GOLDSMITH
January 2021
Ben Goldsmith, who owns a 300-acre farm, near Bruton in Somerset, plans to transform it into a wild habitat within the next four years.
Ben is chair of the Conservative Environmental Network and is on the Board of DEFRA.
REWILDING WITH ISABELLA TREE
January 2021
Online conversation with writer and conservationist Isabella Tree who spoke with the travel writer and novelist Philip Marsden about her pioneering rewilding project in West Sussex.
Isabella is an award-winning author and travel writer. She had published five non-fiction books and writes for publications such as National Geographic, Granta, The Sunday Times and The Observer.
WILDFLOWERS FOR THE QUEEN WITH HUGO RITSON THOMAS AND PROFESSOR SIR GHILEAN PRANCE
February 2021
Fine Art photographer Hugo Rittson Thomas joined us for an online talk with ecologist and botanist Professor Sir Ghillean Prance.
In partnership with conservation charity Plantlife, Hugo was inspired by the achievements of the Coronation Meadows established by HRH The Prince of Wales in 2013
February 2021
Online talk with Brigit Strawbridge Howard wildlife gardener, naturalist, and advocate of bees.
Earth is home to more than 20,000 different species of bee. Around 280 of these can be found in Britain & Ireland.
ENVIRONMENTAL LAND MANAGEMENT
February 2021
The NFU’s Nick von Westenholz joined us to discuss Environmental Land Management.
In England 69% of our landscape is farmed, under the Environmental Land Management (ELM) scheme, farmers will be paid for work that enhances the environment, such as tree or hedge planting, river management to mitigate flooding, or creating or restoring habitats for wildlife.
IS PRESERVATION DESTRUCTION BY ANOTHER NAME?
February 2021
Online discussion with Sir Tim Smit where we debated radical thinking at the intersection of science, necessity and the environment.
Sir Tim Smit KBE is a leading environmentalist and businessman particularly recognised for his work on the Lost Gardens of Heligan and founding the Eden Project International.
THE CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS
March 2021
Chief Executive of the RSPB, Beccy Speight discussed what our migrating & permanent residents tell us about wider changes to the environment.
Since it’s inception in 1889 the threats to birdlife and their habitats have continued to grow but the RSPB have ambitious and wide-reaching conservation plans to change the fate of nature.
April 2021
Husband and wife team David and Annie joined us to discuss the microbial roots of life and health.
Good health—for people and plants—depends on microbiomes, the communities of Earth’s smallest and least-loved creatures.
ARCADIA OR WILDERNESS?
April 2021
Online conversation with landscape architect Kim Wilkie who has worked on the grounds of the Natural History Museum & the V&A.
As a landscape architect Kim tries to understand the memories and associations embedded in a place and the natural flows of people, land, water and climate.
CARBON - THE SOLUTION NOT THE PROBLEM
May 2021
For the past 20 years Charlie Paton has been developing his Seawater Greenhouse concept.
This harnesses solar energy, photosynthesis, evapo-transpiration and the condensation potential of cool seawater to create a virtuous cycle that produces fresh food and potable water in locations where shortages are a significant problem.
SURFERS AGAINST SEWAGE
October 2021
With Hugo Tagholm, who leads the national marine conservation and campaigning charity Surfers Against Sewage (SAS).
SAS takes action from the beach front to the front benches of Parliament, where it unites a voice for the ocean through its Ocean Conservation All Party Parliamentary Group. It mobilises over 100,000 community beach and river clean volunteers annually.
November 2021
Coinciding with Cop 26 we discussed how to make land pay in an online talk with wildlife conservationist Julian Matthews.
Matthews is the founder of Real Wild Estates, the UK’s first ecosystem and species restoration business.
FARMING TODAY. LEADING OR LOST?
December 2021
NFU President Minette Batters in discussion with Johnny Messum on why farming is facing potential ruin through ill advised trade deals.
What are farmers doing for the environment and net zero and what more they could do given the chance. Minette has agreed a target for the NFU of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2040.
CONTACT INFORMATION
- Messums Studios
- Unit 1 Homeland Security, Chilmark, SP3 5DU
Opening Hours
- By appointment (Tuesday - Saturday)
- Sunday and Monday - Closed
REFUNDS & CANCELLATIONS
We appreciate that sometimes things can change. Please see our Refunds & Cancellations Policy for more information.
