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Chute Wendy Kirkup

On 2 August 2003 audiences witnessed three simultaneous views of the Allenheads landscape at a live art event orchestrated by artist Wendy Kirkup. The view as seen by parachutist Ed Murdoch
as he fell 6,000 feet to earth with a camera attached to his helmet was transmitted to a large screen in the Old School House. The descent of the parachutist as seen from a cameraman on the ground, was transmitted to a second screen. Thirdly, people at the Old School House could see the parachutist falling into a field on the opposite side of the valley with the naked eye.

Kirkup describes her thinking behind the project: “The work I’ve been making has been informed
by the idea of map-making. Maps are extremely natural and objective documents but they say
very little about the people who occupy the places they depict. I’ve been wondering how you could readdress them to make them subjective”.

Kirkup researched the project at Brunton Airfield, north of Alnwick, and permissions were secured
from the Airways Authorities, the Ministry of Defense, landowners, tenant farmers and local gamekeepers for the drop to go ahead.