Fernweh

What is the role of travel in art? The need for distance, new places, and experiences? What is the relationship between visitor and host? What is remote in the age of globalization? These were only some of the questions explored by eight curators from Europe and the Americas during the train travelling symposium Fernweh across rural Scotland. During their journeys they visited villages, towns, and art venues around the country to investigate the relationship between place, hospitality, collaboration, distance, and the urban-rural, as well as other matters. At the core of Fernweh is a longing for an undefined, perhaps transcendent freedom, but one that may lead to critical reflection, both on oneself and also on ones surroundings that will also return to the question of community. (Simon Ward)