Cardiff MA show 30th July 2008

Ben Lloyd’s ‘Landsker Line’ stands out in this interim exhibition at the Wales Millennium Centre by being at odds with its context. A wooden crate of stones sits directly on the floor, each stone numbered as if it is an archaeological treasure. The stones have been taken without permission from historic castles in Pembrokeshire in an act of creative attrition. Each stone has been numbered with the intention that they will be replaced when the artist has finished with them. Only the number will then remain as evidence of its journey.

The stones are used as physical evidence of the Landsker Line, an 11th century fortified boundary that once separated Norman territory from lands held by the Celtic inhabitants. The line has persisted through the centuries to divide Pembrokeshire in terms of its language and culture. Even now, native Welsh speakers are found mainly in the North, while South of the line it is English that dominates.

Ben’s borrowing of the stones reminds us of this historical act of appropriation and allows us to speculate on the physicality of the stones, each one representing its own part of the Landsker line. By presenting the stones as objects of archaeological study, he asks us to consider questions of ownership. Are his actions improper but his motives justified? He suggests that while we might attempt to divide up the world to suit our own political or cultural purpose, ideas of ownership are ultimately futile.

Today we’re very precious about our ‘heritage’ even if it is evidence of our own repression. The stones are now part of a seemingly benign series of tourist attractions but they nevertheless represent the fact that cultural erosion is a more persistent threat.