Today we’re sharing something we’ve been steadily building through visits, conversations and experiments across three territories: the LAND matchmaking methodology. It’s a clear, practical guide to how we read a place with its people — and how that reading becomes an invitation for artists to make work with, not just in, a landscape. The PDF is free to download and use.
At its heart is a simple rhythm learned in the field. We begin with sensitive exploration — walking, tasting, listening, and meeting those who live and work with the land. We then test what we think we know through site visits and conversations with scientists, stewards and local users. Finally, we shape artistic briefs that hold the complexity without overwhelming the artist, and that keep audiences and care for place in view. It’s hands-on, interdisciplinary, and designed to travel.
The publication situates the method in LAND’s recent journey — from early international exchanges, through our Erasmus+ fieldwork, to the current Transitioning Landscapes programme — and shows how partners in the Camargue, Rajec Valley and Terschelling have used it to focus on what really matters locally. You’ll find short case sections on pollution and flooding in the Rhône delta, water scarcity and debate in Slovakia, and the invisible freshwater lens and coastal dynamics on the Wadden island.
It’s also a resource for colleagues beyond LAND. The final pages outline how to set up advisory groups, work across art and science, and keep the process human — from who’s at the table to how you frame an ask that communities can recognise themselves in. Think of it as a field-tested scaffold rather than a rulebook: adapt it to your place, your partners, your audiences.
Download the matchmaking methodology (PDF, 26 pages) — and tell us how you use it. We’ll keep sharing learning as residencies unfold in 2025.
