Adam Sutherland of Grizedale Arts invited us to present alongside him at the Art and Architecture Journal conference at Yorkshire Sculpture Park last Friday organised by Jeremy Hunt. My small part was more akin to a speed date, with far too little time and a tired audience at the end of a long day. However there were three good ideas relevant to our approach that became clearer to me thanks to the conference and its organisers.

First up the idea of content led design was expanded by Charles Jenks looking at his own landscape design and some quite strange/ possibly aesthetically dubious designs. However his way of doing this made the ideas beneath the surface of a garden more apparent to me as a viewer, and helped me mentally deconstruct landscape. Good idea! Although his ‘Iraq war garden’ was not necessarily also one. Jenks is a super sharp heavy weight though and understands critical art practice, and it also led to more clarity for me regarding idea number 2 - bad design can make good art.

Adam did a good job on Grizedale, (though again not enough time) - 'a sculpture park on the move', moving at some speed by the looks of things away from the ground occupied by the other parks. It was refreshing to hear him declare that they had an office in an off-the-shelf agricultural building after 2 hours of architects giving very detailed deliberations on the Cass foundation buildings etc..

To complete a trio of design/art ideas, I also felt clearer about art process that leads to a design outcome. The Parkamoor project seems to fit ok with this, as a process of performance, photography and exhibition making that ends in a piece of interior design. Next up might be to see where these three ideas take Laura and I as we work on the Northern Way's virtual public art commission.