This book is a collection of six papers from the 2004 Land/Water and the Visual Arts research symposium on the theme of 'Surface'. Contributors: Iain Biggs, Patricia Townsend, John Goto, Ingrid Pollard, Susan Derges, Christopher Cook. The papers contribute to contemporary academic debates within artistic and curatorial practices, and to understanding within related areas of experience and knowledge. The collection also includes material about the Land/Water Research group, speaker biographies, illustrations, and a poem by Thomas A Clark written especially for the occasion. Research themes central to the concerns of the Land/Water group include: sustainability; representation of change, journey, place and visual practice; West Country and regional specificity. There is particular focus on coast as a littoral space, and interest in exploring relations between site, theme, art, process, and narrative.