Walking Women
12th Jul 2016 11:00am - 17th Jul 2016 11:30pm
Walking Women
A truly utopian practice, walking is free, open, participatory and helps us to reimagine the world we live in. Women across the arts have long used walking in their creative practice, yet their invisibility in the ‘canon’ is conspicuous. This series of events takes a step towards redressing that imbalance - through walking artworks, film screenings, talks and discussions that celebrate and raise the profile of WALKING WOMEN.
There will be activities taking place throughout the week, 11 – 17 July, 11.00-18.00 in the Utopia Treasury including:
Jennie Savage's audio Guide to Getting Lost. Borrow an Mp3 player and headphones and head out to become lost in your familiar geography and the fictional sonic landscape of the audio guide. You will encounter street markets, shopping malls, beaches and birdsong recorded in enigmatic locations.
Amy Sharrocks’ Bus Pass will be on offer for new drifts across the city, taking you on new routes to places you have never been. Decide how much time you have, then take a ticket and get on the first bus you see.
Claire Qualmann and Claire Hind’s Ways to Wander is a book that gathers together 54 intriguing ideas for different ways to take a walk. Selected entries by women authors have been reproduced as cards for visitors to use. Read them as poetry, follow the instructions to the word, or imagine the route that they might take you on.
On Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 July a Wikipedia edit-a-thon will address the gender gap of this important depository of knowledge by actively engaging a female editorship, and improving coverage of women artists. Drop in, improve the page of a favourite artist, or create one from scratch.
Walking Women is curated by Amy Sharrocks and Clare Qualmann in collaboration with Dee Heddon.
Please be aware, selected events involve outdoor walks. In the event of adverse weather conditions, please dress appropriately.
Free, limited spaces
Writer, artist and breast cancer survivor Claire Collison is tour guide on 'An intimate tour of breasts', a three-hour walk exploring the mythologies and commodification of breasts throughout history to the present day. Engaging in conversations and activities en route, the walk aims to unravel the implications of this on how women feel about their own breasts.
BOOK TICKETS NOW
Free, advance booking required
The Walking Reading Group (TWRG) facilitates knowledge exchange in an intimate and dynamic way, discussing texts whilst walking together. Participants will explore 'structure in and around participation', using texts by Michael Ende, Jo Freeman and Thomas More. Texts will be provided in advance, and this walk begins in the Utopia Treasury. Free, limited spaces. To book please email walkingreadinggroup@gmail.com
Quick fire artists' talks, demonstrating the diversity of walking as a contemporary arts practice. Using audio, video, performance, painting, drawing, movement, knitting, dance and writing, these artists explore walking with children, walking home, walking and listening, walking and public space, the politics of walking, walking and revolution, walking and environment and walking on borders.
Artists Amy Sharrocks, Clare Qulmann and Jennie Savage present their walking practices, joined in discussion by scholars Dee Heddon and Anna Minton. This session will touch on issues of public space, ownership, and walking as a political mode of storytelling and storymaking.
In 2015 Afghan artist Kubra Khademi walked through the streets of Kabul in specially made body armour, to highlight the everyday harrassment and sexual assault of women in public space. The furore that followed put the artist's life in danger, and she is now living in exile in France. Lois Keidan, director of the Live Art Development Agency presents a series of the artist's short films - including the Kabul walk, and discusses Khademi's work.
BOOK TICKETS NOW
The Walking Library is an ongoing art project created by Dee Heddon and Misha Myers, bringing together walking and books – walking, reading, reflecting & writing. Each walk changes the shape, the content and the actions of the library. This library was created for Walking Women, filled with donations of suggested books to carry. Join us as we walk this library along the suffragettes' marching route, sharing readings along the way.
In a conversation facilitated by scholars Cathy Turner and Jo Norcup, Alison Lloyd and Louise Ann Wilson will discuss their walking research and practice. Lloyd will focus on the invisible history of women artists walking, from the 1960s and 1970s as well as her own solitary walking practice. Performance maker Louise Ann Wilson will speak about her large scale works 'Warnscale' and 'The Gathering', which take place in rural landscapes.
