Winter makes a bridge between one year and another and, in this case, one century and the next.

Art for me is a form of nourishment. I need the land. I need it.

The difference between a theatre with and without an audience is enormous. There is a palpable, critical energy created by the presence of the audience.

People do not realise that many of my works are done in urban places. I was brought up on the edge of Leeds, five miles from the city centre-on one side were fields and on the other, the city.

When I was at art school, a lot of art education is about art being a means of self-expression, and as an 18-year-old I didn't know if I had a huge amount I wanted to express. It was a big moment when I decided I wanted to shift the emphasis or the intention of my art from something I disgorged myself upon and something that actually fed me or made me see the world or understand the world.

People are the nature of the city, and you can feel it in the pavement.

Sometimes you need to stop doing something to really see it afresh.