The Gretna Landmark Trust will announce on Monday, 4 July, the winning artist and idea to be developed for the Gretna Landmark project’s “Great Unknown” –a new national landmark work of art that will celebrate the border crossing into Scotland at Gretna. The Artist has been chosen, based on a strategy for the landmark, to work with Charles Jencks as Creative Director to realise a fully integrated project of form and landscape. (Keep an eye on the PAR+RS Reflections for an upcoming interview with Charles Jencks, as he discusses the development of The Gretna Landmark)

The announcement will be made at 2p.m., at Smith’s Hotel in Gretna, a stone’s throw from the site of the future landmark. Creative Director Charles Jencks, the winning artist and the project team will lead a questions and answers session, followed by (weather permitting) a chance to visit the site.

Chair of the Gretna Trust, Alasdair Houston said,

“From the first time that I and a few others began discussions about this project some 9 years ago, I have been determined that we deliver something special for the region and Scotland. This will be a major statement of Scotland’s ambition and identity. What a way to say ‘You’re here!’ at the entry point to the country! I hope that it will be a source of pride locally, regionally and nationally. It also links so well with the creative and environmental tourism movement for which our region is becoming well known, and as such will act as a high profile signpost to the destination of Dumfries and Galloway.”

Over the last 5 months, three shortlisted international contenders, Ned Kahn, Cecil Balmond and Wilkinson Eyre, have visited the site at Gretna and worked with Charles Jencks to develop initial design ideas for the Great Unknown.

The wider creative direction and themes for the Gretna Landmark evolved out of a series of seminars and workshops involving leading Scottish cultural thinkers led by Charles Jencks. ‘Energy’ and ‘innovation’ came out very strongly as themes within the brief, especially the role that energy and its conservation might play in the future, the inventive energy of the Scottish people and also the natural energy of Scotland’s dynamic landscape.

On 20 June, 2011, a selection panel of local representatives, stakeholders and arts professionals convened to review the three finalist design submissions and select the winning artist for “The Great Unknown”.

Earlier this month the initial design ideas by the three shortlisted candidates were on display at the Richard Greenhouse Centre in Gretna. The exhibition attracted a large audience of local and national visitors and invited community members to provide feedback on the three finalist designs. This feedback informed the decision of the selection panel.

This project is being developed by the Gretna Landmark Trust, and produced by Wide Open (South Scotland) Ltd.

The initiative is supported by Dumfries & Galloway Arts, the community of Gretna, Gretna Green and Springfield, Alasdair Houston of the Gretna Green Group, Dumfries & Galloway Council, Scottish Enterprise and the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority.

Please see www.gretnalandmark.com for more information about the background to the project.