Summer Solstice Walk 2022

 As part of his '52 More' walking project, Blake Morris invited people to walk on the summer solstice, Tuesday 21st June at whatever time was convenient. 

The walking 'score' for the day was created by Melanie Mowinski and participants were invited to interpret the contents of the score as they walked their chosen route at their chosen time. The way these scores can be interpreted in a multitude of ways has fascinated me since I began following and creating them. 

My chosen route on this occasion was a short section of the Leeds - Liverpool Canal, beginning at Granary Wharf, walking west toward Armley. 

To engage with this activity, try to match up some of the lines in the score with what was observed in the images below. What did you notice?

The walking score created by Melanie Mowinski

The final lock gate that opens onto the River Aire

The basin at Granary Wharf, looking towards the final lock gates

Way-marker on the Desmond Family Canoe Trail

Emerging from under the rail track viaduct

Looking back under the main rail tracks entering Leeds Station

Grafitti decorated wall separates the rail tracks from the canal

Four routes line up: The rail tracks, the canal, 

the tow path and the River Aire on the left

Passing under the Monk Bridge Viaduct that once 

carried trains into the old Leeds Central Station 

Sid and Nancy with their six cygnets, 

local celebrities now thanks to Facebook 

Approaching St. Ann Ings Lock Gates

Moorhen family raising their five chicks by the tow path

Beautiful wild teasels, with fully-spent flower heads

 

Gorgeous wooden posts along the tow path

I bet the birds love these berries

Portage this way, don't forget your two-person canoe

Next to the new, there is the old attempting to retain dignity. 

Let's hope it survives

On our return to Granary Square, 

a female mallard duck challenges us to a race

Back at the bridge next to lock no. 2, 

bathed in the lovely afternoon sunshine

The Walkbook

 Thursday 19th May 2022 marked the launch of The Walkbook - a book of 'recipes for walking and wellbeing'. The book of recipes was launched on the second day of the #WalkCreate Gathering - a '2-day event in London and online on the 18th and 19th May 2022, which shared and celebrated the use of creative walking to enhance wellbeing'.

30 artists from across the UK were commissioned to create and contribute 'recipes' that addressed one or more of the following research challenges:

Walks for inclement weather / walks when there's nowhere to walk / Walks when you are bored of walking / walks when you are bored of walking the same route / walks when you are shielding / walks when you cannot walk very far / walks when you are anxious / walks when you don't have much time / walks when you can't be bothered / walks for inspiration / walks as an act of self-care / walks for a social bubble / walks for the physically distanced but socially connected / walks to make others smile / walks for the isolated / walks for the lonely / walks for busy people / walks for escape / walks for winter / walks in the rain / walks when it is dark / walks for indoors / walks with children, babies and/or teenagers / walks to work something out / walks in a place you feel uncomfortable or out of place / walks of welcome / walks for all the senses / walks to read your environment / walks to know your environment / walks to combat fear / walks to build your confidence / walks to manage pain / walks to expose obstacles / walks to bridge communities / walks to acknowledge slower pace / walks to start a revolution...

The organisers also stated "we recognise that 'walking' refers to a diverse range of approaches and needs. While not all recipes may be suitable for everyone, our aim is that the majority will be".

The front cover of the The Walkbook

A pdf of The Walkbook can be downloaded here.

The official Glasgow University reference

The #WalkCreate Gathering

Nina and I worked on a recipe for the book and we identified our chosen challenge as relating to 'walks to know your environment'. Our aim was to create a series of questions posed to the reader/walker that could hopefully stimulate a better awareness and understanding of the environment. It was therefore necessary to create a recipe that did not specify a particular type of environment too clearly, aiming for an adaptable text that could be adapted to a variety of locations, places and spaces.

Besides the textual triggers, or provocations, we also devoted time to the visual layout of the recipe. We felt that the visual nature of the recipe and how the text is received by the reader is crucial to the creation of the relevant approach to the walk. We imagined each walk beginning at an entrance or gateway and later ending at roughly the same place. This meant the layout of the questions would be arranged in a circular pattern to suggest the cyclical quality of the walk. 

Each block of text was placed within a hexagon. This decision was deliberate and referenced classic board layouts used in games of strategy. These were all physically linked to emphasise how each question/experience blended into the next. Graphic arrows were placed in order to emphasise the link between one hexagon and the next. The order of the hexagons was arranged clockwise from the bottom of the page, to mirror the layout on many classic board games. 

The arrows were also created in green, in contrast to the blocks of text, to add a sense of depth to the composition and to focus attention onto the text. Small, colourful icons were also placed at intervals around the page to add a ludic sense of fun that we hoped the reader/walker would experience.

Below is the final artwork as submitted to the editors:

'A Walk to Know Your Environment' - Final Artwork

After waiting eagerly for the launch of the The Walkbook, we were so happy to receive the launched publication as an online pdf. At first we didn't recognise our contribution until we matched up the published text to the one we had created. 

Unfortunately, all of the visual elements we had considered, developed, modified and incorporated had disappeared and overall, the recipe now seemed quite sparse and minimal. 

The references to board games and the integrated game mechanisms that we hoped to suggest, had all disappeared. This was initially very disappointing but on reflection we are incredibly pleased to be included in the The Walkbook and we would love to hear from anyone who has tried out our recipe. 

Please let us know how it went and how the experience modified how you might now approach, experience and 'know' the environment in a new way.

Below is the artwork as published in The Walkbook:

Final recipe as published in The Walkbook

'No holiday', Hoan Kiem Lake, Hanoi, Vietnam

This recorded version of the performance 'No holiday' was conducted around Hoan Kiem Lake (Sword Lake) in Hanoi, Vietnam on 7th April, 2021.

Although overcast, it was a lovely warm day for a walk around the small lake in Vietnam's capital.

I walked anti-clockwise around the lake, beginning at the southern end close to Trang Thi and continued strolling slowly along until I had almost completed one full circuit of the lake.  

The film concludes as I continue on my way along Lai Thai To. 

A video of the performance is embedded below or, alternatively, you can view it on my Youtube channel.

The Old Town to the Quay - Terminalia Festival 2022

Thankfully, this year's Terminalia Festival fell on a day that was blessed with bright sunshine, though the wind was still cool and sharp.

Previous walks on Terminalia have been: In 2019 a Saigon Citadel Walk and in 2020, a Saigon Canal Walk.

This one-day Festival of Psychogeography has been held every year on the 23rd of February since 2011 and brings together individuals and groups who mark the Festival of Terminus, the Roman god of boundaries and landmarks.

Nina and I were in Bridlington, East Yorkshire, UK to celebrate Terminalia by walking from the The Old Town to the Quay, via the Priory Church and we started at the top of Market Place at 11:00am promptly.

Originally the Old Town and the Quay were two separate locations, with the Old Town (Burlington) being the main area with the Quay forming the local port. More recently the two have merged to become the modern town of Bridlington.

A view through Westgate Park to The Avenue

Intriguingly named road

The official start of the walk

A view looking down Market Place in the Old Town, 

Burlington as it used to be known

Pillory (replica), first placed placed here in 1636

Stocks (replica), originals also c.1636

Unintentional Christo-influenced installation

Southern Hemisphere, bathed in sunlight

Beautifully proportioned shop-fronts

(Virtual) Shop-keeper waiting for customers

Unintentional Morandi-influenced shop window-display

Bust of John Sawdon, Lord Mayor of Bridlington 1905-08

Disused drinking fountain

Bayle Gate, original gateway to the Priory.

The Church Green, Priory Church beyond

Remains of the old fencing around the Church Green

Christmas decorations, surviving into February

St. John's Burlington, Grade II listed Methodist Church

Surviving Cast-Iron Canopy on Quay Road

The arrival / departure of the train on the single line 

temporarily separates the Quay from the Old Town

Bridlington Centotaph

Repaired shrapnel damage from the Second World War

Even in February it is easy to find a bucket and spade for the beach

Plenty of multi-coloured sugar available

Modest monument to T. E. Lawrence,

unfortunately the gnomon is now missing

The Royal Yorkshire Yacht Club HQ appears ready to set sail

A view of the harbour with 'The Anchorman', 2015 

keeping watch (Sculpture by Ronald Falck)

This year's walk for Terminalia 2022 has been very enjoyable and we were very lucky with the weather. Who knows where next year's walk will be? We look forward to it.

'Experience Mapping' at 4WCoP 2021

The annual Fourth World Congress of Psychogeography was held this year on Saturday 4th and 5th September 2021. For this event Dr. Nina Yiu and I proposed a project we called 'Experience Mapping' that aimed to record the collective experience of participating in the congress. 

Maps are often depictions of actual locations, a record of the activities of a person or group of people, or even directions enabling someone to arrive at an intended location.

Rather than creating a map of the actual locations around Huddersfield University and its environs, we wanted to collate the experiences of different participants during the weekend, wherever they were, and combine them into a virtual map that could represent the collective experience of participants of the 'Experience Mapping' project. 

This approach required us to invite participants to take photographs of their activities sometime during the weekend of the congress and to send them to Nina and I, along with a note of the time the photograph was taken and a comment about the feeling at the time or a description of the environment. 

These photographs would then be transformed into drawn images and subsequently incorporated into a map that integrated the disparate elements into a seemingly logical map.

Nina and I presented the project concept on Saturday 4th September at 10:00am, and a recording of the presentation can be viewed below (or viewed at https://youtu.be/Ead6fwzgYY8)

Project presentation at 4WCoP 2021, 4th September 2021

Five people eventually responded to the open call by submitting photographs: Elspeth Billie Penfold, Sonia Overall, Aled Singleton, Steve Goldman, and Time Chapman. In total, we had twelve photographs to work with.

The first stage was to transform the photographs into graphic images by hand. As this process took some time, it allowed us gain a 'feeling' for the image and what was being captured, almost as if we were there ourselves, quite a lyrical approach we discovered. These days most of us are under pressure from deadlines and it is not often that we find ourselves with the luxury of patience. 

Being patient is sometimes what is required and in this project it was essential. The entire process was also unexpectedly delayed when fate intervened, and an unexpected family bereavement brought the process to a halt. It was several months before we were able to establish the correct frame of mind to retrace the previous thought processes.

As the images were created one-by-one, they were juxtaposed each time and a story gradually began to reveal itself as the images accumulated, and this emerging story became the guideline we used when composing the final map.

The 'Experience Mapping' project was a pilot project as it was the first time that it had been tried. There was inevitably a learning curve to negotiate within the process. In future, it is hoped, more complex maps would be attempted, if the opportunity arose.

Below are the twelve photographs used as the inspiration for the map, the twelve images transformed into hand-drawn images, and finally a screen-capture of the resolved map.

The twelve photographs submitted to the project

The twelve drawings created in response to the photographs

The final map as an A3 pdf

A recording of the congress final plenary session was made and can be viewed here, or below: