Precious stone of the North

A million-pound revamp has transformed the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, says Charlotte Mullins

In Britain, the term "sculpture park" has been applied to anything from a few wood carvings in a hotel garden to serious curated displays of Henry Moore bronzes set in the landscape. What the words don't tend to conjure up are challenging installations of contemporary art. That is, unless you have been to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park (YSP) recently.

Over its 25-year existence, the YSP – located near Wakefield in 550 acres of rolling landscape – has earned itself a solid reputation for organising important retrospectives of major 20th-century sculptors and for displaying its impressive collection which includes works by Henry Moore, Barbara Hepworth and Elizabeth Frink, as well are contemporary greats Anthony Caro, Richard Serra, Philip King and many others. But with the addition of a multi-million-pound visitor centre this summer, and a new gallery space, it is looking to its contemporary programme to emphasise its position as the leading centre for sculpture in Britain.

Peter Murray, the YSP's committed director, knows that running a mixed programme of work by young artists and established figures is ambitious, but he feels it's important to get the balance right. "If you are going to be a centre of sculpture," he says, "I think you need to show the range. If people think of sculpture, they should think of the Yorkshire Sculpture Park. So we need good indoor galleries so you can come and see video art, performance, to extend what sculpture is, as well as having an open air site. We want to keep that vitality going with changing shows, we want the big statements and we also want permanent mature things which will evolve very slowly."

A visit to the YSP today starts in the new visitor centre, which houses a café, restaurant, shop, auditorium and exhibition space. As you pass through the glass-walled building, many sculptures become visible as the park opens out. (Richard Wentworth's iron dinner plates, half-submerged in the grass, are given an added spin when seen as you leave the restaurant.) The 18th-century parkland was designed to unfold in front of you, a device that is complementary to seeing sculpture. Beyond an early, and unusual, stone sculpture by Richard Serra which sits shaded by a clump of trees, lies Anthony Caro's ambitious pediment-like Promenade; over the bridge an Antony Gormley figure stands on the top of a lofty tree stump, its rusty orange face looking down at you. It seems isolated, imprisoned on top of the tree like daredevil David Blaine on his 90-foot column, but is given an air of spirituality, vivid against the blue of the lake and sky.

While the YSP may have lacked the critical acclaim more readily obtained by galleries located in urban centres, it has never been overlooked by artists. American James Turrell, who creates mesmeric installations using natural and electric light, is working on a permanent piece for the YSP's old deer shelter, while a disused chapel is being turned into an installation space – with Antony Gormley keen to work in it.

Major temporary exhibitions regularly fill the YSP – Elizabeth Frink's white-faced warriors and Goggle Heads line the drive at present; a vast show of sculptures by the late Italian artist Marino Marini this autumn will include many of the Horse and Riders by which he made his name. But it is the younger generation that now dominates the YSP's programme, with 20 contemporary artists currently involved in projects.

Young Brit Stefan Gec has a solo show in the Pavilion Gallery to 28 July, which explores his interest in surveillance and includes a new commission – a computer animation based on the nearby ntl radio and communication mast on Emley Moor. Outside, Dutch artist Auke de Vries's tall and slender steel watchtower, a previous YSP commission, continues Gec's theme. Murray says this communication between the work and the viewer is key: "I think public involvement is very important. What the park provides you with is a real opportunity to see work up close. To experience Auke's work you have to put your shoes on and walk round it, see it against the sky and the landscape." The YSP utilises indoor spaces such as the visitor centre – for which Jen Southern has worked with artist-group KIT to create an animation based on the YSP's landscape – and the original Camellia House, where Jenny West's architectonic drawings appear between the blooms. But they also work with contemporary artists outdoors – this summer they are showing artists' films on a huge screen in the gardens, including work by Swiss-born Pipilotti Rist and Dutch duo De Rijke and De Rooij (whose films are currently on show at London's ICA). One of this year's Turner Prize nominees, Catherine Yass, is planning to make a film at the Park, and the YSP's energetic curator Clare Lilley is talking to young Scottish artists Kenny Hunter and Nathan Coley about future projects.

Last autumn the YSP opened Longside, a new exhibition space that can be seen across the valley from the visitor centre, a 15-minute walk through the sculpture fields. From March 2003, the vast upper gallery will house the Arts Council's entire sculpture collection, and the Arts Council will jointly curate a rolling programme of shows in the adjoining lower gallery.

Murray describes their move to the YSP as an "extremely rich partnership", and it is the biggest statement yet that the Park has come of age in the eyes of the British art world. He is pleased the YSP is finally being recognised by the establishment: "There are very few places in the world like this, where artists can come and are given the opportunity to actually accomplish something. We have a broad perspective about what is going on globally, rather than just in England, and are interested in the way artists create and think about art. I think that makes a difference in terms of how we put our programme together."

The Yorkshire Sculpture Park Visitor Centre: Wakefield (01924 830302)