How will the Peak District look in the future?

An exhibition of seldom-seen nostalgic photographs of Peak District scenes is set to inspire people to think about how places might look in the future and create new pictures to show it.

A Peak District Imaginarium will be created during creative drop-in workshops for the public over two Saturdays at Castleton Visitors Centre, when thoughts, memories and questions will be collected by two artists, working in collaboration with Bob Johnston, Megan Blomfield and Gui Pozzer from the University of Sheffield, and used to envision landscape views that future generations might see.

The exhibition of old photographs will be open every day at Castleton Visitor Centre between 9^th and 16^th November, from 10 am to 4.30 pm.

On Saturday 9^th and Saturday 16^th November, people can join artists Paul Evans and Jon Harrison for a spellbinding experience, employing the magic of AI (Artificial Intelligence) to bring the past into the present and visualise potential futures.

The creative workshops will develop people’s ideas and recollections inspired by the old images to co-create fascinating new forms generated by advanced but easy to use technology.

There is no need to book, people can just turn up. The family friendly drop-in sessions on the two Saturdays are between 11am and 4pm, these are open to everyone and are free of charge.

Artist Paul Evans said: “We will be looking at rarely seen pictures from the extraordinary Peak District National Park photo archive and using image-generating technology to bring to life archive slides and photos based on what people say in response to the pictures.”

Academic Bob Johnston said: “We hope people will find the images provoke thoughts and conversations about some of the big topics and challenges we face in today’s landscape: climate change, protecting biodiversity and cultural heritage, how we live, work, travel and produce food.”

Peak District National Park cultural heritage team manager Anna Badcock said: “We hope this exciting new public art project with the University of Sheffield will inspire people to think about how landscapes look now, what they have looked like in the past and what they might look like in the future. We hope this will encourage curiosity and a sense of collective care for our extraordinary landscapes, communities and heritage.”