Being Led By The Stars . . . Two Walking Practices in Dialogue Teri Rueb and Bill Gilbert  Walking and sound have variously shaped the practices of Colorado and New Mexico-based artists Teri Rueb and Bill Gilbert.  This Cafe event will feature both artists who will present a brief overview of their broader practice, speaking

"A writer who walks and a walker who writes" is how Geoff Nicholson modestly describes himself. He has written a lot of books including a couple of novels about walking: Bleeding London (Shortlisted for the Whitbread Prize) and The Miranda.

Ximena Alarcon in discussion with landscape architect, Usue Riaz Aruna, musician and digital media artist, Ron Herrema and Richard Bentley of consultancy Small Silence.

Amanda Gutierrez and Ximena Alarcon will each present their artistic practice, followed by a conversation chaired by Viv Corringham. Three women artists working with sound as an art form.

Simona Vermeire is researching and exploring the common grounds between the botanical world and walking, relating to vegetal or plant thinking to promenadology. She introduces us in her talk in the concept and visions of Plant(e)scape, into plant-thinking and plant-philosophy, relating her ideas to walking in nature, walking with plants and walking as becoming plants.

These days it is possible to locate any form of media pretty much anywhere on the planet which has a GPS signal. The whole world is up for grabs as a readymade stage set. Changing the soundtrack to the ‘movie of our lives’ changes everything.

Exploring the relationship of place, connection, walking the land and deep listening, from a range of perspectives, knowledges and disciplines including: First Nations, Law/Governance, Art, Philosophy, Māori cosmologies and Western Science.

Immersive sound walks have been around for a few decades, enjoyed by individual listeners or in small groups of listeners. Award-winning author and radio producer, Horatio Clare teaming up with the BBC, has hugely increased the audience for sound walks. His narrative combined with quality soundscapes recorded on foot in remote areas, has generated hundreds of thousands of new listeners to a phenomenon know as "Slow Radio".

Please join us for a discussion between artists and scientists regarding the role field work plays in their practices.

Get behind the microphone to discover how one makes compelling audio recordings that engage both armchair listeners and those of us out and about on foot. We are delighted to have brought together four creatives who have travelled to remote places, revealed hidden histories, and captured the soundscapes and voices of past and present, to enable us to sit back in comfort or stride forward to listen to what is unseen.

The covid-19 pandemic has led to a surge of interest in how we can experience and enjoy virtual nature and the great outdoors, by using digital technology, when staying in the safety of our homes.