Covid-19
Highlights
Estery Wierzba / Esther’s Willow
Esther’s Willow mobilized local institutions, cultural workers, residents, and Jewish descendants and survivors of the city of Chrzanów (PL) to walk a deportation route in reverse and re-plant a white willow sapling in the former Esther’s Square.
Walking a Contemporary Valley Section
Claudia Zeiske walked From Mountain to Sea, a 220km walk through Aberdeenshire, and a COVID-19 commemoration walk, marked by benches, music, an embroidered tablecloth, illustrated map, and film.Her work is shortlisted for the Marŝarto Awards 2025. Below, she reflects on the experience. Over two years, I walked from mountain to sea forth and back across Aberdeenshire in the
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Walking Contención Island
This project documents a series of walks undertaken during the three Covid-19 lockdowns, creating an imaginary island called Contención Island through mapped routes, chance-determined shorelines, and sound recordings. It explores themes of embodied walking, the nature of borders, and the symbolic resonance of the island within urban and ecological contexts.
• Shorelines
The shoreline of Swanage Bay, part of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast UNESCO World Heritage Site, features unique geology including listric fault lines and fossil-rich strata such as Portland stone and Wealden clay. Observing this landscape with his geologist father, the author reflects on both the ancient history embedded in the rocks and the contemporary sight of empty cruise ships moored nearby, highlighting the shoreline’s role as a liminal space between land, sea, and time.
The 42 walks of Contención Island
During the UK's COVID-19 lockdown, the author conducted daily 20-minute walks in all directions from their home, creating and mapping a fictional place called Contención Island through recorded sounds and poems over 42 days. This project combines walking, audio recordings, and poetic texts to explore a mapped imaginary island shaped by the paths of lockdown walks.
• The Ears May Travel
The Ears May Travel came into existence spontaneously during the covid-19 pandemic in spring 2020. During lockdown I simply felt the urge to travel – at least in imagination. But it is not only a vacation for the senses. It is a commentary in a time when countries around the globe are closing their borders.
Walking in the time of coronavirus: a walk from Queen’s Park to Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury’s
This is the 20-minute walk that my friend Henie and I have been doing every Thursday morning for over five months since the start of the covid-19 lockdown in London to do our weekly supermarket shopping. The walk starts in the Queen’s Park Estate in north-west London and ends at the Ladbroke Grove Sainsbury’s. The
Walking pieces
Remote togetherness – reflections on Prespes and walking in situ
This paper builds on previous work from Prespes 2019, combining memories of walking the land with reflections on COVID-19’s impact on mobility. It explores themes of contested territory, deep listening, and ancestral connections through a performative audio format that integrates poetic, theoretical, and meditative elements.
Sincroni-cidades – Um percurso partilhado em confinamento
O artigo analisa o projeto artístico Sincroni-cidades, desenvolvido pela equipa TEPe durante o confinamento por COVID-19, que explorou a experiência de percorrer a cidade a partir da reclusão doméstica através de registros fonográficos, textuais e fotográficos síncronos. O trabalho envolveu participantes geograficamente dispersos em dois continentes e é contextualizado na trilogia Sincronicidades, Diacroni-cidades e Cumpli-cidades, utilizando a arte como metodologia de investigação qualitativa.
• The imaginary drift
The Imaginary Drift is an audio series created during the COVID-19 pandemic that uses GPT-2-generated texts to produce spoken word descriptions of dreamlike, imaginary landscapes inspired by brief walks outside. Developed by new media artist Alan Dunning, the project explores the interplay of human input and AI in constructing narratives of macroscopic and microscopic worlds.
Articles on WLC
Articles elsewhere
19. Barbara Lounder, Becoming Corona Walker
I met Barbara Lounder at the Walking’s New Movements conference in Plymouth, UK, in the fall of 2019. She and her husband, Robert Bean, were very kind; they even invited me for dinner with Hamish Fulton, the renowned walking artist. Barbara and I have kept in touch since then, and when she let me know … Continue reading 19. Barbara Lounder, Becoming Corona Walker →
• 37. Kit Dobson, Field Notes on Listening
Like Jenna Butler’s Revery: A Year of Bees, I’m teaching Kit Dobson’s Field Notes on Listening this summer, and rereading it in preparation for last week’s classes was a revelation: I had forgotten it was so good. The book is structured like a musical composition, with three movements bracketed by a prelude and a coda, . The prelude … Continue reading 37. Kit Dobson, Field Notes on Listening →
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Call for papers RGS-IGB conference 2022
Hello everyone I appreciate this may not be relevant to many loiterers, but if you are interested in academic conferences you would be very welcome to submit an abstract. Please do get in touch if you have any questions Call for papers Walking Wel...
