Northern Field: A Landscape of Morphology and Mythology

This paper reflects on research conducted by the Edinburgh based network CORE: Creative Research into the Environment, which explores a series of multidisciplinary perspectives on the relationship between `morphology and mythology¿. Part of an ongoing project entitled Environmental Dialogues, the research investigates an extensive context described here as a `Northern Field¿, stretching from Greenland, Iceland and Scotland¿s Western and Northern Isles, with a particular focus on the cultural position of the Outer Hebrides and Orkney. The Northern Field identifies with island cultures located within energy infrastructures, which deploy space at a large scale, with long established gas and oil fields, alongside emergent industries of wind, wave and tidal energy production. These can be seen as morphological structures set in a cultural landscape where mythological perspectives, histories and present day narratives intersect these large-scale infrastructures. The paper provides an overview of the research, in particular how disciplines such as art, landscape planning, anthropology, writing and poetry use creative methods alongside scientific and technological research, to capture a cultural response to the context of these extensive territories, which are often beyond perceptible grasp.