Walkspace newsletter: seeking curious people who like to walk...
Hello walkers of the West Midlands!
It's the irregular Walkspace newsletter to which you subscribed at some point.
The big news is we've grown our membership to 18 people, chosen through the deeply scientific method of coming across them and thinking "hmm, they'd be nice to have around the place". Some are hardcore walkers, some are more theory than practice; it's a nice mix. Check them out on the members page.
Long-term, this is a terrible way to build a membership, but it did allow us to test the water and see how Walkspace might grow. We're now ready to open things up properly and are accepting applications. Join here!
The criteria is pretty loose – be walking with a creative bent and be from the West Midlands – and requirements are low stakes. All we ask is that you consider joining a WhatsApp group where we talk about art/walking, share our work and post any good links and advice we've come across.
It's been great bringing a pretty disparate group of people together like this. While we have big plans for the next few years, if we're honest this level of informal activity is more than enough. Spirits have been raised, doubts quashed and collaborations seeded. And we haven't even had a chance to meet up yet!
Walkspace was born after the fabled artwalking conference in Plymouth back in 2019. Our biggest takeaway was the sense of being in a room with people who 'got' what we were talking about, who were on our level and didn't think we were weird. Walkspace was seeded by that feeling. Everything else is gravy.
What we've been talking about on the Walkspace chat
Here's a highly redacted summary of the conversations Walkspace members have been having, to give you a flavour of what's going on behind the curtain since late January.
- Karen O'Rourke's book Walking and Mapping.
- Peak catkin season.
- Jonathan Mead's Birmingham film.
- Sonia Overall's book Walk Write (Repeat).
- Touring the real Birmingham on the 11 bus route.
- Abandoned railway lines in the city centre.
- The bicentenary of the Battle of Cinderloo.
- Chris Watson's artist talk.
- Walking with toddlers and seeing the world through their eyes.
- Ania Bas's Footnotes for the Cov biennial.
- Phil Smith's new book Covert.
- The concept of "mindful trespassing".
- Mysterious concrete outcrops around the Frankley reservoir.
- This article about friendships intensified by lockdown walks.
- Canoeing in pipes.
- Night walking.
- A walking tour of surveillance infrastructure in Seattle.
- Robson's pictures of the same spot of the river Rea every day.
- New York's Surveillance Camera Players (1996-2006)
- Hating / loving urban walking.
- Experiencing a place as a child and revisiting as an adult.
- Spaghetti Junction.
- Wandering through "this ragged Arcadia".
- The Urban Tree Festival.
- Nick Hayes' Book of Trespass.
- The Twin Peaks tree circle portal in Highbury Park.
- Horseshoe bats in a Rea tunnel.
- Organising a litter-picking walk.
- Managing websites.
- Tree climbing.
- Tree climbing as a service!
- Gnomes in Earlswood.
- "The Lost World" in Tyseley.
- Being bored of aimless wandering, and longing to walk somewhere new, from this article.
- Kruse's post, The Treecreeper.
- Netherton tunnel and air vents.
- James Kennedy's post Suburban Psychedelia.
- Long distance and multi-day walking.
- Walking with pain.
- Milton Keynes is a secret solstice temple.
- Kriya Arts' Pilgrimage for Nature (more).
- Photographing discarded face masks.
- Laura Oldfield Ford's 2016 exhibition Chthonic Reverb.
- "A sinister Art Deco veterinary centre"
- This interview with Shane O'Mara, author of In Praise of Walking.
- Weird Walk zine.
- Edward Parnell's book Ghostland.
Does that sound like the sort of thing you'd like streaming into your phone? Join Walkspace.
On the Walkspace blog
Not a huge amount over the last couple of months, but all of it good.
The Walk – a report
Kate Thompson has produced this wonderful piece of prose, recounting a walk with Andy exploring their old stomping grounds of South Birmingham. If we ever do a Walkspace anthology of writing, this will be the standard to hit.
SOUNDwalk: B37
SoundKitchen continue to develop their series of self-directed walks with this sound walk exploring the green spaces of B37.
The Severn Way animation
Daniella Turbin turned a walk along the River Severn into a hand-drawn animation.
One Hour / One Mile Mindful Photo Walk
Laura Babb is running distanced mindfulness walks with a solo walk, top and tailed with a Zoom meetup. They're fully booked but it's an intriguing format.
Move For Mind – a walking film Our northern walking correspondent, Owen Davey of Manchester, made a lovely film during the winter lockdown for Mind about mental health. It's seriously good and very inspirational.
On the 'gram
Fiona has been looking after the Walkspace Instagram account, posting things she's noticed on her lockdown walks, some of which decorate this newsletter. Check it out.
This Thursday 18th she'll be undertaking a Dazzle Club walk in Birmingham City Centre. Dazzle Club was featured on our blog last year and is doing interesting work exploring surveillance in public space. Check out @thedazzleclub for updates and watch for Fiona's report later in the month.
That's all for now
Hope you're doing OK and are looking forward to the spring, which is nearly here, honest.
Stay safe and keep walking.
