As someone who would describe myself as fairly ignorant and unconnected with the arts, I approached this event with a mix of feelings – including excitement, curiosity and, dare I say it, an aspect of scepticism. Arriving at the crack of dawn at Cardiff Central station on a cold morning to walk to the conference venue in Cardiff Bay and take part in the mysteriously named ‘Tumbleweed’ exhibition I have to admit that at this stage it was more scepticism than excitement that I was feeling. However my early morning grump was quickly displaced when, along the journey to the bay we encountered the first ‘art’ of the day. This comprised of an artist using a leaf blower to propel a tumbleweed along the pavement and at times bemused delegates were left with the decision of whether to allow the plant to tumble into themselves or to jump swiftly out the way to continue its journey. This form of experiential art was completely different to any I had encountered before, and left me with more questions than answers (which I guess was the point), and certainly did fill me with intrigue and curiosity. Although if I put my philistine hat on I would  admit to not being entirely certain of how or why the art was related to sustainability, but again, anything that leaves you questioning and thinking about something for days afterwards has clearly had a successful impact, even if you can’t quite put your finger on what that impact is.

I think it is that notion of being both simultaneously intrigued and confused that is my overriding memory of the day – which involved a wide range of different performances and art forms – and I think it is this aspect that makes art so powerful in communicating and engaging with audiences. The open-ended, less prescriptive nature of communication was thought provoking and left the audience with different possibilities for interpretation, which I think is an important aspect of communication that I will consider in future attempts to engage audiences with my work.