One cloudy Thursday, two of the Submerged Landscape Research Centres PhD candidates were invited to attend a workshop arranged by Ed Compson and Arieh Frosh, East Gallery Fellows at the Norwich University of the Arts. This workshop was to explore “the complex relationship of offshore wind energy with the seabed” and as such brought together a number of different stakeholders to view the landscape and discuss the different ways this is viewed by each of them.
We collected in the airy space of Norwich train station and travelled together to Lowestoft to arrange ourselves carefully in the brightest orange waterproofs and ascend the fast boat of Jet Adventures, who would convey us to Scroby Sands, one of the first commercial wind farms in the UK. As we sped towards the increasingly imposing towers, the wind whipping sea spray all around, we considered the size and sheer scale of an offshore wind turbine and appreciated the visual impact of the turbines in the modern landscape.
Upon returning to shore, we gathered to discuss and imagine the impact on different “actants” within such a landscape; a piece of flint, a fishing trawler, an underwater cable, a palaeo-archaeologist, etc. We questioned how different groups of these “actants” might interact , and what that space might look like if presented to others. We all were from different career paths and approached this in a variety of interesting ways, which the Fellows documented to be used within their wider project.
Overall, it was an interesting and unique way of thinking about our growing renewable energy stakeholders, and how that relates to our past and present landscapes.

For more information on Ed and Arieh’s work go to – https://norwichuni.ac.uk/about-us/meet-our-staff/arieh-frosh-and-ed-compson/