Allenheads Contemporary Arts (ACA) is an arts venue in remote rural Northumberland, established by Helen Ratcliffe and Alan Smith in 1995. The venue is a space for research, production and presentation by artists ranging from new graduates to the internationally recognised.

This book is an account of ACA’s development through a programme of residencies, projects, exhibitions and events that accompany relations with community and environment.

Essays by Tracey Warr, David Butler and Rob La Frenais reflect on how the experience of ACA relates to wider debates about art in rural areas, the relationship between the body and the landscape, the roles and responsibilities of the artist in contemporary society and how ACA’s scope reaches beyond its local context.