1001 ways to walk

1001 nights of stories, 1001 ways of walking... so many e-circulars these days of artist walking practices, which is great, if a little overwhelming at times!

This will form a place to collate links to some of them.
Over the coming few months I'll try and add in references from sketchbooks and emails of the last couple of years to other PhD researchers, book lists, events and practitioners.
- Or find a site that does that already!

* Here's a photo-sketch from my own walk this morning, from the water wheel lake at Stourhead to Alfred's Tower and back again.

* Elastic City, New York

Autumn 2011, launched a Kickstarter fundraising call

"With your support, Elastic City will produce its third season of conceptual and poetic walks in 2012. Started in May 2010, Elastic City commissions artists to give sensory, performative and ritualistic walks in New York City and beyond. Eventually, we'd like to expand to give walks in all parts of the world.

Some themes of past walks have included: making monuments with our bodies in response to existing public monuments; ridding space of bad luck and bringing forth good luck through the creation of new folk rituals; and sculpting visual and sound poems using found objects.

These are all experiential, participatory walks--as opposed to the 'moving lecture' model that defines fact-based walking tours. When you arrive at an Elastic City walk, you are welcomed as an active participant. The artist leading the walk offers you their lens, guidance and techniques to further the poetry in our relationships with each other and the surrounding environment.

We've received wonderful press thus far--a feature in the New York Times, The Economist, and even a cartoon from Roz Chast in the New Yorker!"

* Distance - a roaming performance festival.

Three venues in autumn 2011: Riga, London, Newcastle.

With work from Sorrel Muggridge and Laura Nanni, whose bilocated trans-continental walking was the first guided artwalk that I experienced, at Living landscapes, Aberystwyth, 2009.

Also three resident artists transmitting via field broadcast.

* Historical maps and iphone apps - a writer's walk in Bristol (news article September 2011)

• The WAN, walking artists network, Jiscmail, started in 2011, is a good news source.
• Treacle Theatre have an interesting portfolio of interactive media, interventions, curated events and cartography (amongst other things), and curate the Stuttgart alternative tourism initiatives (second year from June 2012) (email circular with call, March 2012)
• Janes Walks started in 2007 in Toronto by friends of urban thinker Jane Jacobs, there are several events in the UK this year on the first weekend of May
• Andrew Stuck, Producer at Talking Walking emails out (May 2012)  a list of upcoming events, extracts follow: 
• Launch of a series of three Look Up London walks in May –  we provide binoculars to participants and we offer them things to peer at! http://lookuplondonclubland.eventbrite.co.uk/
• We have a couple of Ruskin Walks in the pipeline, including one commissioned by the Bartlett School of Planning at UCL for June, and one for InTransit on the 26 July on the pre-Raphaelites.  
• The After Works series of walks, inviting walking artists to get involved - June and July – tentatively includes a lost river walk, a tree spotting walk, garden visiting and another romantic outing.
• Planning shortly: a night walking to celebrate Dickens as part of the East Dulwich Festival. Possibly a seminar in October. a series of Ruskin Walks in  October, with the Garden Museum (London) to celebrate Octavia Hill.
• It’s the fifth anniversary of Talking Walking this September and they will be at Sideways2012, Belgium  planning work around interviewing walking artists at the festival.  

And today, 28/5/12, notice of a choreographed walk (or several) in leicester:

Routes
Creative Guided Walks and Outdoor Installation by dance artist Vanessa Grasse
Friday 22 and Sat 23 June 2012 - FREE

Dance4 has been working with international choreographer Vanessa Grasse to engage the public in workshops that in turn have inspired a performance based on walking and community experiences.

Participants from the Belgrave and Braunstone communities in Leicester have been led through a creative process of outdoor walking, listening and observing, recording sounds through their neighbourhoods and open discussions where they can share their views and feelings about their local area and community.

Friday 22 June, 12.30pm - 4pm
Belgrave , Leicester Belgrave Neighbourhood Centre, Rothley StreetLeicester LE4 6LF

• 12:30pm to 1pm, Guided Walk - Meet at the Neighbourhood Centre at 12:15 pm to start at 12.30pm

A fun guided walk through the areas surrounding the Neighborhood Centre.  We will be playful, curious, imaginative and explorative; we will uncover hidden aspects of the local area and get lost in familiar places.

• 1pm – 4pm,Outdoor Installation Walk

An interactive installation walk around Belgrave Road and Cossington Recreation Ground. You will explore the area following creative instructions and finding frames to look through, which capture everyday-choreographies and stories of local people’s journeys.

The event includes free refreshment at 1:00pm and extra playful activities at the Neighbourhood Centre throughout the day.  For all ages and abilities. Wear comfortable shoes and outdoor clothing. For more info and to book contact Kirsten: Kirsten@dance4.co.uk 0115 941 0773 or just turn up on the day.


Saturday 23 June 2012
12:00pm—4:00pm
Braunstone, Leicester Braunstone Park Off Gooding StreetLeicestershire

Meet at the BRITE centre at 12pm, walk starts at 12:15 pm, Outdoor Installation in the park 12 – 4pm

An unusual and fun walk in Braunstone Park to challenge your experience of walking in the park; get together with your local community; get lost in familiar places; be playful, curious, imaginative and explorative. We will walk and do creative physical activities as a group, then you will set off on your own finding tasks and instructions placed around the park. If you can’t join the walk you can still experience the installation in the park from 12pm to 4pm.

For all ages and abilities. Wear comfortable shoes and outdoor clothing. For more info and to book contact Kirsten: Kirsten@dance4.co.uk 0115 941 0773 or just turn up on the day.

http://www.dance4.co.uk/events/2012-06


Dance4 have been commissioned by NHS Leicester City (Primary Care Trust) to create an inspiring programme to support their aims of engaging adult communities who are not currently engaged in physical activity.  Routes is the development of this aim and supports Dance4’s aim to create extraordinary dance programmes with the public as co-creators. 

Partners: NHS Leicester City (Primary Care Trust), Leicester Sports Partnership Board

22/6/12 - just back from the Belgrave workshop & walk... in the midsummer rain! - some very nice elements, which I hope to write a separate post about in the next day or two.
Meanwhile here's Vanessa's blog of the project:
http://vanessagrasse.wordpress.com/installation-walk/routes-_blog-post/
and the promo: http://dance4.co.uk/about/project/big-dance-2012/event/performance/2012-06-22/routes 

and a useful link to misguide:

http://www.mis-guide.com/ws/archive/mganywhere.html

13/7/12: news of another Big Dance walking project:
http://www.siobhandavies.com/dance/creative-projects/creative-explorations/footfall.html 

	Footfall  Traipse, meander, tip-toe or strut to Siobhan Davies Studios this weekend for a day exploring the activity of walking. Footfall presents newly commissioned performance and film works, an interactive installation and a lively artist's talk as part of Big Dance 2012.Sunday 15 July 11.30am – 5pm Free entry Walking Piece - performance  An installation performance by dance artist Matthias Sperling made with a diverse group of performers which continuously circumnavigates Siobhan Davies Studios in a single file loop of encounters. Times: 12noon, 3pm and 4pmWalker – film Film makers Straybird (Lucy Cash and Becky Edmunds) return to the Studios with an innovative and playful short film which invites you to consider a crucial yet much overlooked every day action – walking. Times: the film is screened throughout the dayJust Wandering – artists in conversation Choreographer Siobhan Davies, film makers David Hinton and Straybird, and dance artist Matthias Sperling share the results of their artistic explorations of walking, discussing the importance of this action on a human and artistic level. Chaired by Tamara Tomic-Vajagic lecturer at Roehampton University. Time: 1.30pm- 2.30pm Reserve a free place on 020 7091 9650The Protocol Project – interactive installation & performance This collaboration between dance artist Sian Goldby and composer Sandy Dobson brings together movement, sound and visuals to create a constantly evolving reactive space. Times: 11.30am, 12.30pm, 2.40pm, 3.30pm and 4.30pmThe Compass Rose – activity  A one-off participatory event developed specifically for Footfall by live artist Laura-Kate Jennings and graphic artist Daniel Jennings. Create your own personalised navigational tool to lead you on your journey home. Times: ongoing throughout the day Visit www.siobhandavies.com/bigdance from Friday to download Talking about Walking, an audio walk by scientist Dr Jim Usherwood who will talk you through the mechanics of walking. Siobhan Davies Studios 85 St George's Road London SE1 6ER + Click to read more information If you have any queries about the event please contact Alex Murphy onalexm@siobhandavies.com Follow us on:

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16/7/12:

There hasn't been a lot on here specifically about SoundWalks ... just came across this useful article on Soundwalking: creating moving environmental sound narratives

by Dr. Andra McCartney, Associate Professor, Communication Studies, Concordia University

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An interview with one of my favourite walking artists:

http://www.talkingwalking.net/public/Talking_Walking/Entries/2008/11/8_Sorrel_Muggridge_talking_walking.html

and lots more walking talking podcasts from Andrew Stuck at http://www.talkingwalking.net/public/Talking_Walking/Talking_Walking.html

Andrew was one of the walkers across Belgium for Sideways Festival, the final weekend of which I attended with the Walking Artists Network.

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10/9/13:

New facebook page created for WAN, the Walking Artists Network, which has a vibrant jisc-mail network with news of interesting activities members are involved in. Usefully, the facebook page collates the jisc-mail posts so is easy to navigate. https://www.facebook.com/walkingartistsnetwork

Also, new to my attention, is Footwork, a research gorup attached to WAN, with members including some of the walking artists I met at Sideways last year - Clare Qualmann, Dee Heddon and Lucy Frears. Disappointing though that there's nothing apparent on this blog to give the background or aims of Footwork.

http://footworkwalk.wordpress.com/ 

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16/10/13:

I haven't posted many things from WAN's frequent email notifications here, as they are available through the WAN site /jisc list elsewhere online. But here are a couple of useful resources:

The Walking Institute have been building up a website that brings together walking AND other things (including art).

They invite people to send them 'more projects that should be on this...' : www.walkingand.org.

Walking Portraits: Performing Asphalts (London) and Emotive Circle (Athens) 

by Bill Psarras

Artist,Musician

Website: http://billpsarras.tumblr.com

Music: http://billpsarras.bandcamp.com/

PhD candidate in Arts & Computational Technology

Goldsmiths University of London

"Walkers friends and colleagues, during some time, as part of my personal art work and through the project Global Performance Art Walks (https://www.facebook.com/groups/globalperformanceartwalks), I have been researching the possible intersections between Performance Art and Walking and I would like to share with you the following collection which I entitled "Inspirational Walks". Take a look, you may be inspired to take to the street to perform a walk. If you have any suggestions of other works / images / experiences of inspiring walks to enlarge this collection, I'll be grateful from feet to head." (WAN jiscmail 15/10/13)

http://www.pinterest.com/bipedformance/inspirational-walks-caminatas-inspiradoras/

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17/10/13:

London based: The walking reading group on participation. Led by collaborative artist Ania Bas. 

"The group offers a chance to discuss the issues surrounding participation, engagement, collaboration, and social practice through a dynamic walking reading group. 

For each session texts are set in advance and form the backbone of the exchange. We depart from a venue and walk for up to an hour, swapping conversations and partners several times. The selection of texts and the applied dynamic methodology is an attempt to view beyond the binary logic of Socially Engaged Art practices." Ac'd 17/10/13 from the blog: 

http://aniabas.blogspot.co.uk/2013/04/the-walking-reading-group-on.html 

which also contains a publication from the May 2013 edition of walking reading group, with a good selection of texts from authors including Michel de Certau, Claire Smith.

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And Richard White and Ali Pretty's new walking project in Dorset, 23-26 November  - following a not dissimilar route to our original Strata Collective Sightlines concept!- and their partnership as 'Now We Are Walking'
https://www.facebook.com/nowwearewalking
http://creativewiltshire.co.uk/cranborne-chase-and-west-wiltshire-downs.html 
15/11/13

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