Forest Pitch (11mins, 2012, dir. Nick Gibbons)

Forest Pitch is an art project by Craig Coulthard created as part of the London 2012 Festival and Cultural Olympiad. A full size football pitch was created in a commercial spruce forest in the Scottish Borders. In August 2012, two football matches were played on the pitch. This enigmatic and mysterious portrait, documents the match day events.

The majority of players were amateurs who live in Scotland, who had been granted British Citizenship or Leave to Remain in the UK since the year 2000. The players wore strips designed by primary school children from across Scotland. Trees cut down to make space for the pitch were used to create a changing room, goalposts and surrounding infrastructure.

After the games, the site has been left to grow back naturally, with some planting of native species of trees to take place in late 2012. This planting will follow the dimensions of the football pitch, and over the coming years will grow into a 3 dimensional sculpture, recalling the day’s events and memorialising the games. Forest Pitch is funded by Creative Scotland’s National Lottery funding.