A collaborative project with the School of Music and Fine Art and the 2016 Whitstable Biennale has produced an innovative series of Four Artist Walks, which aim to test the proposition that a walking journey with an artist could be as valuable as hearing them address a lecture theatre, and that sharing a range of sights and sounds could reveal something that slides and video clips do not.
Information about the artists and the politics, history and imaginative potential of the landscape being walked through will be disseminated before/after in a document in order to keep the walk itself as ‘present’ as possible. Walkers will be invited to mix and mingle during the walks, with an emphasis on informal conversation. Midway through the walks, students will present a set of questions to the artists which later will be collated, with the artists’ responses, in the Whitstable Biennale’s online journal.
Each route will culminate at a point along the Medway estuary or river Swale, forming a string of reference points between which the connections between the walks can be contemplated.
Walk 2, on Saturday 27th February, 10:15am—1pm approx, with Ruth Ewan, will take in Kingsferry Bridge, Iwade, Ridham Dock and the strange “elephants’ graveyard” of decaying Thames barges in the mouth of the Medway. The walk will start and end at Swale Station. An artist’s pamphlet will be provided to each walker.
Booking:
Places on the walks (priced at £5 per person: All participants will receive an artist’s pamphlet from Ruth Ewan) are limited and can be booked, on a first come, first served basis, here via https://www.eventbrite.com/e/artist-walks-ruth-ewan-tickets-21223515105?ref=elink
Notes for walkers:
The walks will be largely off-road. Participants are recommended to wear waterproof walking boots and warm outdoor clothing. Please also note that access to drinking water and toilet facilities will be limited.
For further information: http://www.whitstablebiennale.com/project/ruth-ewan/
Facebook event – https://www.facebook.com/events/159388467775540/
The next walk will be on 21st March with Mike Nelson, and the final walk on 9th April with Brian Dillon. For further details go to http://www.whitstablebiennale.com/artists/artist-walks/
Artist Walks is a collaborative project organised by the School of Music and Fine Art in the University of Kent in partnership with Whitstable Biennale and supported by Kent County Council, taking place between Chatham and Faversham.