Our group exhibition at Plymouth Arts was launched yesterday. Write up in the Guardian here.

Over the next couple of days I will be working with students at the Sound and Music summer school at Purcell School in Hertfordshire. We’ll be thinking about sound and soundscapes and doing soundwalks. Details here.

I will be taking part in a new exhibition at Plymouth Arts Centre between August and October this year.

Ambulation brings together specially commissioned and past works by artists and architects who use walking as an artistic practice. These artists all use the idea to explore walking as a practice, from looking at the historical contexts of the city, to the symbolic potentials that are held within an everyday object, and the idea that walking should be an aimless affair.

More details here

On 23/24 May 2010 I will be running a course on bird voice for Devon based environmental education company WildWise.

“Like ourselves, birds are very vocal creatures. In spring their songs and calls are everywhere, enlivening our woods, hedges and fields. But what are they doing? Why are they singing? And who is singing? These are just some of the questions we will be answering on this overnight camp. We’ll also take time to experience both the dawn chorus, one of the great natural wonders, and to learn how to identify a range of birds from their songs and calls. And everyone will have the opportunity to take time out to listen quietly to the sounds of the natural world, a simple yet often surprisingly powerful experience. ”

Details here

Big thanks to everyone who took part in the walk last night/this morning. To see what happened visit the live photo blog of the walk here.

We started of with ten people, with two others joining later. Numbers fell off understandably as the night progressed but we had two hardy walkers, Mark and Ashley, who stayed for the whole walk, all twelve hours! The wallk was at times playful, at times quiet, at times challenging, but engaging and in its own way, I suggest immersive. Obviously everyone will take away their own impressions and experiences. Both Simon and myself would love to hear these impressions and experiences. We’d also love to be able to add some of your images to the website .. To get in contact , mail Tony at tony dot whitehead2332 at gmail dot com Thanks again for coming along and making it special.

MIDNIGHT Friday 22 January til NOON Saturday 23 January

A special walk in support of The Pigs of Today are the Hams of Tomorrow curated by Marina Abramovic and organised by Plymouth Arts Centre.

In 1988 Abramovic and Ulay walked the 6,000 Km Great Wall of China from opposite ends meeting in the middle.

Simon Persighetti (Wrights& Sites) and Tony Whitehead (Soundings) invite you on a 6km slow walk through the City of Plymouth from midnight on Friday 22 January til noon on Saturday 23 January following the zigzag route of a scaled-down georectification of the Great Wall. Along the way we will take note of visible and invisible barriers, edges, liminal spaces, boundaries, fences and the ecologies of walls.

You can join us for the whole walk starting at the junction of Elburton Road and Southernway, north of Elburton and Plymstock (type 50.36496,-4.079107 into Google Maps).

If you are at evening performances at the Slaughterhouse, Royal William Yard, it will be possible for particpants to share cabs out to the start point with the walk leaders. We’ll be leaving c11:15pm.

Or you can join us for part of our journey – we will signal our position live on this Walk the Walls blog (scroll down) so that you know where we are.

Or you can meet us at our finishing point at the Slaughterhouse at 12 noon on Saturday 23 January where we will present our findings and have delirious conversations perhaps before parting our ways forever.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:
If you are joining us, please remember to wrap up very warm and bring waterproofs. Parts of the walk will be on rough ground, so sturdy boots/walking shoes should be worn. For the night walking please bring a torch. Feel free as well to bring recording devices (camera/chalk), and energy food.

We hope you enjoy taking part in Walk the Walls, but please remember that everyone takes part at their own risk and that the organisers and leaders are not responsible for any injuries, loss or damage that occur during the event.

For more information, and to register your interest in taking part contact Plymouth Arts Centre on 01752 206114 or email info at plymouthartscentre dot org

With walking artist Simon Persighetti (Wrights & Sites) and sound artist Tony Whitehead explore the edges of Plymouth Sound following signals, echoes, calls and songs blowing in the wind. Help collect an archive of sounds to shape into a programme for Plymouth Arts Centre radio station Freesound which will be broadcasting on line from 7 August to 6 September 09.

Will be working on with schools as part at INSTAL festival, Glasgow in March 2009. The project involves both sound walks and visual poetry.

Following the success of our first Dartmoor listening retreat last year, composer Richard Povall and myself are running a second one in May (14-17th).

The retreat gives participants the space and time to immerse themselves in the sound environment of this unique place, to learn more about the various sounds, especially the many and varied voices of animals and to spend time responding creatively to what is heard.

In particular we’ll be out and about day and night doing sound walks, learning the songs and calls of birds and other creatures that live on the moors and simply taking pleasure in the flow of water over stone or the soft whisper of the breeze in the trees. We’ll also make field recordings of the various sounds which we’ll then edit and use as the basis for composition – no previous knowlege is necessary as we’ll show particpants how to do this. We will also consider other ways of responding to what is heard, visually and with text.

The retreat is particulalrly designed for artists wanting to build an appreciation of the natural sonic environment into their work and individuals who would like to include work with sound in community/environmental arts projects.

Find out more at www.auneheadarts.org.uk
01822 890 539

Simon Persighetti and myself shared our city/forest explorations with fourteen keen adventurers yesterday. Personal highlights of a really fun day include: fourteen people buying one eccles cake in the bus station cafe to feed a pigeon; fourteen people standing in Coral bookies watching a horse race; planting wild flower seeds in a patch of grassy `non-space’ outside the police station; running on the spot and succesfully getting worms to come up to the surface; making origami cranes and decorating a forest tree with them; the whole group walking with eyes closed along a forest track; trying to find north while standing amongst the trees; standing in silence in the forest surrounded by birds.

A few notes written in advance of the Animal Gaze walk here.