Walking Institute

A walking appreciation initiative

to explore, research and celebrate the human pace
for and with people from all walks of life.

VISION DOCUMENT
June 2013

WHAT is the WALKING INSTITUTE ABOUT?

The Walking Institute has been set up by Deveron Arts/the town is the venue as a unique,
year round centre of excellence within the walking & art discourse.
The Walking Institute aims to develop a walking appreciation programme for and with people
from all walks of life. It will do this by engaging people in a range of challenging, creative and
accessible walking activities and discourses, addressing issues and opportunities in relation
to health, environment and rural economic development through activities which link walking
with art and related disciplines1.
Whilst core development will happen in Huntly, the aspiration of the programme is to spiral
out geographically from this centre of both action and research to include satellite events
and collaborations elsewhere. This will emerge through the development of relationships
with artists and other partners working with both, rural and urban as well as local and global
contexts, engaging critically with the walking & art discourse within an international
perspective.
The Walking Institutes principle is: all walking is great. Hence we will endeavour to
encompass as much variety in the programme as we can for both potential and seasoned
walkers, reaching out to the walking arts network, the outdoor experts, dog walkers, travel
writers, people who may find walking activities challenging and many other individuals and
groups.
Within these local and global perspectives we have two main aims:
Research & Mapping: to research and map the concepts, philosophies and notions
surrounding walking and linking them to the walking & art discourse.
Activities & Path-Making: to identify and develop walking activities and new paths & trails
which connect to the broadening networks and dialogues across the globe.

We refer in this document to the discourse that involves walking, art and other disciplines as walking & art.

The Walking Institute: Vision Document

BACKGROUND

The Walking Institute is initiated and developed by Deveron Arts / the town is the venue.
Deveron Arts is a contemporary arts organisation based in Huntly, a market town in the north
east of Scotland (see Appendix 1 for further information about Huntly), where it works with
the history, context and identity of the town. It has no gallery. Instead, the town is the venue,
acting as studio, gallery and stage for artists of all disciplines to live and work here.
Engaging with local people and the community through topics of both local and global
concern, Deveron Arts works through a 50/50 approach. This brings together artistic and
social relationships in a global network that extends throughout and beyond the geographic
boundaries of Huntly. In operation for over 17 years, Deveron Arts has built up a tradition in
hosting artists and practitioners in a range of other cultural disciplines from across the world.
Since 2012, in collaboration with other local agencies and businesses its aim is to explore
this notion of hospitality further through developing an arts-led action and research
programme that focuses on the human pace.
Deveron Arts has been engaged in walking projects since 2007. However, the idea of setting
up a walking appreciation ininitiative was born out of the project 21 Days in the Cairngorms
with artist Hamish Fulton. This work, commissioned by Deveron Arts in 2010, involved a 21day walk into the Cairngorm Mountains, as well as choreographed walks in Huntlys town
centre and at the Cairngorm Ski Center. The project triggered much thought and discussion
about the many different rural and urban forms and interests in the act of walking and their
relationship to art, challenging people to think about their understanding of what walking is
and what it means to walk.

The Walking Institute: Vision Document

ARTISTIC VISION

The relationship to the physical experience and interaction of place through walking has
always been a form of inspiration for artists, writers and philosophers. The philosophy of the
Walking Institute is to explore and celebrate journeying and the human pace in all its forms,
from the afternoon amble or city drive2 to challenging scrambles through remote
landscapes through artist led eyes. As such it aims to create walking experiences as art,
literature and cinema, as philosophy, religion and meditation, as protest and subversion, as
solitary and collective journeying, exercise, recreation and economic regeneration.
It will do this by responding to local, national and global needs. Now more than ever, as we
are faced with the high speed of contemporary living and increasing physical and mental
health related issues, society is in need of workable alternatives to complement our lifestyles
and longer lives. Health and environmental organisations, tourist and economic development
industries as well as artists and environmentalists are looking for opportunities to show how
we can influence the rhythm of our lives.
The interdisciplinary nature of walking & art means the Walking Institute can work with artists
and others from a variety of backgrounds and experiences on specific thematic projects.
Walking connects many threads of artistic practice that explore bipedal motion as a
departure point for invention and intervention, be it simile within performance, the
experiential understanding of landscape, or our relationship to place and environment
through arts and ecology. Working across disciplines and subjects is becoming more widely
practiced within both the arts and academia. At the same time, a great variety of academic
subjects and methodologies - geography, geology, ecology, anthropology, feminism,
architecture, philosophy and phenomenology to name just a few - have contributed to the
developing discourse on walking & art (further details in Appendix 3). Collaboration between

1. A drive is an unplanned journey through a landscape, usually urban, on which the aesthetic contours of the surrounding
architecture and geography subconsciously direct the wanderer or drifter, with the goal of encountering a new and authentic
experience.

The Walking Institute: Vision Document

such disciplines gives us opportunities to contribute to both global issues and innovative
practice.
Walking projects can provide a space for solitude, for participation, for conversation, for
imagining and collective journeying. It can also be a metaphor for the human pace. Through
an organised programme of events, residencies and artist / expert commissions, the Walking
Institute will challenge and support the individual and collective discovery of the human pace
as both a function for travel and health and also as a core theme or catalyst for creative
experiences. The programme aims to inspire participants to rethink, both intellectually and
physically, how they walk, where they walk and how they experience place and environment.
It will explore walking and the human pace in all its forms and will bring people together
through our collective understandings of getting about.
Our aim is to search how activities of walking & art can play an integral role in peoples lives,
whether through adding to their walking for health reasons, or by experiencing walking
through arts projects that allow you to see and feel the world from a different perspective.
The programme seeks to be innovative within the walking & arts context; searching for new
ways in which to contribute to the development of this genre of work. It will create new paths
of enquiry and experimentation for artists and participants alike.

The Walking Institute: Vision Document

WHO IS THE WALKING INSTITUTE FOR?

The programme intends to meet and work with a broad spectrum of people from all walks of
life.
Working with national and international arts circuits, it will include:
Local people, schools and community groups of Huntly and the surrounding region
Visitors to the North East of Scotland
Outdoor and walking enthusiasts
Tourism, environment and health professionals
Higher education and academic institutions interested in the subject of walking
spanning Arts, Sciences and Humanity disciplines
Artists including both those with a walking art practice and others who wish to use
walking as a new approach/medium in their work

The Walking Institute recognises a need for creating opportunities for a large diversity of
people, including those who are confronted with barriers that prevent them from engaging
with walking. We acknowledge that many walks and path-making ventures are not fully
accessible because of endurance, heritage/conservation, environmental or political reasons.
While not every project can be for all people, the programme will deliver activities that allow
the widest spectrum of people to access and appreciate walking and journeying. Specific
artists projects will take into consideration and investigate directly ideas of walking in
relation to access.
The project also aims to spiral out from Huntly - to people, communities and countries
further afield.

The Walking Institute: Vision Document

PROGRAMME STRUCTURE

The Walking Institute programme is structured through:

Vision
To establish a walking appreciation initiative to explore, research and celebrate the
human pace for and with people from all walks of life.

Mission
The Walking Institute aims to develop a walking appreciation programme by bringing
walking activities together with arts and other cultural disciplines with people from all
walks of life. It will address opportunities in relation to health, environment and rural
development in Huntly and further afield through walking art and related disciplines, for
example geography, architecture and history. It will encompass all walking & art
practices and aims to map globally the scope of this medium.

Aims
Research & Mapping: to research and map ideas and philosophies surrounding walking
and linking them to walking & art discourse.
Activities & Path Making: to identify and develop artist led walking activities and new
paths & trails which connect to broadening networks and dialogues globally.

Main Themes
Tourism & Economic Regeneration, Environment & Ecology, Wellbeing & Social
Cohesion

Cross-cutting Strands
Politics & Ethics, Community & Place and Seasons & Time

The Walking Institute: Vision Document

Individual projects will relate to some or all of the above themes and strands.

Research & Mapping

Through online and offline research the Walking Institute will be mapping and exploring
existing and potential artistic and academic discourses that have emerged through the
variety of disciplines and enquiry. This research will show the wealth of interest around
walking & art and the relationships and convergences between historical and political forms
and the development of the walking leisure industry. The discovery and innovation within the
research will also be mapped and archived as the programme develops.
The information will be shared online through the Walking Institute website and through a
physical library that will hold a collection of books, articles and references relating to walking
& art. It will also be shared through a variety of symposiums, talks, conferences and other
research driven events that promote discussion, exchange and development of current
discourse. This information portal will allow people to easily access information directly
through the collated mapping and library.

Activities & Path-Making

The other main aim of the Institute is to develop a diverse programme of practical activities
and commissions.
The Institute will bring artists together with others through all forms of walking practices,
including a year-round programme of actions that touch on political and ethical issues,
seasonal approaches, path-making initiatives, community and place-making activities. These
will contain community events, short and long-distance walks, walking research residencies
and commissions with the purpose of addressing themes related to tourism and economic
development, health and social cohesion and environment and ecology through active
walking initiatives.
This will take place in and around Huntly in the first instance, but with a view to radiating out
and eventually becoming a programme with international dimensions.

Tourism & Economic Regeneration

People want to experience places in new ways and through new lights. The tourism industry
is being questioned and reinvented by artists who offer something a bit different to visitors,
while aiming to stay true to the place itself.
The Walking Institute will ask how artist-led walking projects can contribute to tourism and
wider economic development locally in Huntly and how these experiences could be
transferred to other places. The key market groups which we will target are: local people
looking at their place afresh; tourists to the region; those interested in outdoor and/or cultural
tourism; and the growing walking artist network and related disciplines from academia. As
such, the programme while staying true to the sense of place - will offer new ways to
interact with cultural and outdoor tourism that can be full of discovery, going beyond what is
usually on offer in the Scottish visitor market.
In order to do this, the Walking Institute will work with local accommodation providers, food
and drink outlets as well as heritage and environmental groups and existing tourist
attractions.
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The Walking Institute: Vision Document

Environment & Ecology

Artists have always worked with landscape and environment, but now the possibilities for
ways of artists facilitating action and experience of place are widening in scope. The Walking
Institute will actively develop how we can appreciate and understand environment and place
in different ways through both thought and action, how we respond to the landscape and
expand our understandings of ecology.
The Walking Institute will engage in the discussion around environment and ecology through
learning about and active engagement in walking. It will do this by working with artists who
explore both rural and urban contexts and the appreciation of our environments. The
programme will be focusing on how various creations; both ephemeral and of a more solid
nature, can explore site, community and participatory action specific to place and its people.
This will be done, by working with locality from local and global perspectives to initiate
dialogue, controversy, awareness and knowledge.

Wellbeing & Social Cohesion

Heart disease, obesity and mental health3 are some of the main concerns and focus for
health organisations. Walking has been identified as a successful activity for both preventing
and addressing such illnesses. Walking just 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week can
significantly help to reduce blood pressure, reduce stress, manage ones weight and give
people more energy.
The Walking Institute will complement traditional health institutions approach through more
creative initiatives by getting people walking to improve both their physical and mental
wellbeing. We want walking to be enjoyable, for people to be empowered, socially active and
motivated to be mobile outside as well as mentally fit and nourished on the inside. As an
independent programme that sits outside the medical approach, the Walking Institute should
spark a desire to become fitter by offering a more complex understanding of peoples own
physicality and health.
For the Walking Institute, well-being is a holistic approach for which we aim to work with the
wider community networks. We may, for example, embrace ideas such as, the Ministry of
Silly Walks4 to get people moving and walking in a way that is fun, accessible, experimental
and embraces humour as a means of participation. Deveron Arts has undertaken some
projects that explore social inclusion and access such as Norma D Hunters Wheelchair
Walks and the returning Slow Marathon. In particular we are interested in working with
people who sit at their desk most of the day. How can their health and productivity be
enhanced through walking activities integrated into their daily working routine? The Walking
Institute will ensure that it is seen as a good example of this change in working culture.

Politics & Ethics

Artists and many other people have often employed walking actions as a form of collective
protest or political action. From the more recent, Hamish Fulton Slowalk (2011, in support of

More than 1 in 4 people will experience some kind of mental health problem in the course of a year, many of whom could be
helped through walking activities. Regular physical exercise improves state of mind, helps relieve depression and increases
feelings of well-being. A survey carried out by Mind found that 83% of people with mental health problems looked to physical
activity to help lift their mood.
4
See Monty Python sketch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqhlQfXUk7w

The Walking Institute: Vision Document

Ai Weiwei)5, the 25,000 miles walked by the Peace Pilgrim6 or Gandhis 1930 Salt March7
walking has been a powerful tool for peaceful protest. In 2011, Deveron Arts organised the
UK Border Walk, a 77 km walk and discussion about the detrimental effects of the new
points based visa regulations for overseas artists.
The Walking Institute will relate to larger questions that extend to international perspectives
including debate around the right to walk, crossing political and physical boundaries, cultural
relationships to walking, including the fear of walking and geographical restrictions. It will
also continue to highlight current dialogues around themes of access that effect both artists
and communities across the globe.

Community & Place

Deveron Arts has a 17 year track record in arts & community development through its town
is the venue methodology, which engages with collaborative and other socially involving
practices8. The Walking Institute will build on this experience through a programme that
encompasses the diversity and ecology of place, its inhabitants and cultural heritage. This
will be done by responding to both community (people, histories, food, language, storytelling,
ethnic diversity, politics) and physical context (place and landscapes, architecture,
geographical and topographical features within the region). Projects will include working with
the existing strengths within the localities, whilst exploring themes that address directly the
needs and interests of the communities and their places a model that could fit any
community.

Seasons & Time

Since early times, people have responded to seasonal changes and calendars through
making artefacts and celebrations. We will use the four seasons, their weather systems and
the cultural calendar to establish a timeline for projects and to curate events around
seasonal changes. We want to celebrate the uniqueness of each season and what it can
offer as a reference point for artists to respond to.
This will include:

Weather and physical aspects of our seasons: for instance paying attention to
notions of dark/light through events like equinox walks and star gazing strolls; winter
walking activities making use of snow conditions; summer walks making use of long
daylight hours.
Cultural local and international calendar: the programming will also take into
consideration other cultural events and celebrations such as Solstice, Burns Night,
Halloween and also the local Calendar of events.

www.turnercontemporary.org/news/hamish-fulton-slowalk-in-support-of-ai-weiwei
www.peacepilgrim.org
http://thenagain.info/webchron/India/SaltMarch.html
8
see also ARTocracy, Handbook in collaborative practice, Sacramento & Zeiske, Jovis, 2010
6
7

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Research
and Mapping

Activities &
Path-Making

Tourism &
Economic
Regeneration

Environment &
Ecology

Wellbeing &
Social
Cohesion

Politics & Ethics

Politics & Ethics

Politics & Ethics

Community & Place

Community & Place

Community & Place

Seasons & Time

Seasons & Time

Seasons & Time

Politics & Ethics

Politics & Ethics

Politics & Ethics

Community & Place

Community & Place

Community & Place

Seasons & Time

Seasons & Time

Seasons & Time

This document was written by Claudia Zeiske, with the great help of Simone Kenyon, Robin Lloyd
Jones and Diane Smith. Great thanks also to Ron Brander, Anthony Elliot, Deirdre Heddon, Tim
Ingold and Anna Vermehren for commenting on earlier versions of this document.
9

Gratitude also to the Fernweh curators, who greatly helped to shape the thinking through their
travelling conversations.

Fernweh was a train travelling curator project organised by Deveron Arts that explored the notion of wanderlust,
itchy feet and journeying with other communities across Scotland in May 2013.

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APPENDIX 1: Huntly, Aberdeenshire, Scotland

Room to Roam
You go yours - and I'll go mine - the many ways we wend
Many days- and many ways - ending in one end
Many a wrong and its curing song - many a road and many an inn
Room to roam but only one home - for all the world to win
So you go yours - and I'll go mine
and the many many ways we'll wend
Many days and many ways- ending in one end

10

Room to Roam is Huntlys slogan, and constant theme. Ideally placed on both the whisky and castle
trail it can offer the visitor a unique Scotland in miniature. Where other places have concentrated
on provision for outdoor activists, Huntly can offer a more rounded package that combines out-of-door
activity with history, art, community and other cultural interests for all abilities. Situated in the foothills
of the Grampian mountains, surrounded by many ancient paths and a rich cultural history, Huntly is
an ideal place to base a walking initiative with room to roam for all kinds of interests; be it cooking,
bird watching, storytelling or philosophy; stone circles, photography, blog writing or snowman building.
Huntly is situated in the North East of Scotland. The town is about 4,500 people-strong and serves a
rural hinterland with a similar population. Life here circumnavigates a historic square in the centre,
with approximately 175 clubs and societies, an ice cream and a shortbread factory and various
sporting facilities, including a Nordic ski centre. The town also features no less than 11 licensed
premises.
Further to this Huntly has a unique cultural tapestry that ranges from traditional skills and crafts,
Scottish pipe and folk music, traditional and contemporary dancing to the contemporary realms of
Deveron Arts. Deveron Arts and Huntly won the Special Judge's Award in the Creative Place scheme
in 2012 and won the main award in 2013, which recognizes the strong cultural life of the town in
relation to its context. Through this the Walking Institute could be set us as well as a Huntly cultural
fund from which local groups can access financial support for projects addressing the Years of
Natural Scotland and Homecoming.
At the same time, the town faces economic decline and multiple forms of deprivation, as well as lifestyle related health issues.
Nearby Aberdeen international airport and good road links to the Cairngorms, the sea and the whisky
and castle trails make it an attractive base for visitors.
Good rail and bus links make it possible to visit without a car, further promoting slow travel to
environmentally conscious travellers.
Walking has also been identified as a prime opportunity by other local organisations concerned with
economic development, health and environment in Huntly. In particular, the Huntly Development Trust
(HDT) and the Huntly and District Tourism Action Group (Hadtag), commissioned a walking strategy
for the town and its surrounding Strathbogie and Cabrach area. The town has received Walkers
Welcome status in 2010; it recently opened a bunkhouse; and published a walking book with a variety
of town and country walks.
This rich patchwork of cultural, economic and natural components make Huntly an ideal place to set
up a walking appreciation institute.

10
Room to Roam is the title of a poem by Huntlys great writer, George MacDonald; it is also the title off an album by the
Waterboys.

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APPENDIX 2: Background to Walking Art

From Aristotles Peripatetic School, or the capturing of the biomechanics of walking in the early
chronophotography of Etienne-Jules Marey and Eadweard Muybridge, to online mapping and GPS
location and tracking applications, a significant shift has transformed how we perceive and use the act
of walking. Through the evolving idea of walking as a leisure pursuit to the experiencing of pictorial
landscapes in the Victorian era and our western post-industrial heritage, walking is now one of the
greatest activities for people seeking adventure.
The combined act of walking and thinking has inspired writers and philosophers down the centuries.
For example, Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778) admitted in his Confessions that he could
meditate only when I am walking. When I stop, I cease to think; my mind only works with my legs.
And the trend has continued through to avant-garde movements like the Situationists International
and Psychogeography.
The term Walking Art emerged from the Land Art movement of the 60 and 70s when artists like
Richard Long and Hamish Fulton first declared their walks as art. Walking Art has seen a resurgence
of interest over the past decade. It is however a loose term or definition as many of these artists
translate their experience through other mediums such as sculpture, photography or text based
works. Walking is used by artists, both as subject and medium. It is a burgeoning field within
contemporary arts practices encompassing a breadth of work from writers and visual artists
synonymous with early walking arts through to performance, dance and live arts practices and more
recently those that encompass interactive technologies and online experiences. These artists
predominantly use walking as a catalyst for working with environment and time. Some would say, that
the physical act of walking is the art itself.

An overview of Past, Present and Future Walking Practices within the UK:
The fields of work that could be included within The Walking Institute programme are vast. This brief
overview offers an initial introduction and examples of just a fraction of artists and avenues of interest
that have developed over recent decades. This glossary is primarily from the perspective of UK and
Scottish work. International artist included are shown with their country of origin.

Visual Arts
It could be argued that many walking artists came out of the Land Art movements of the 1960s. The
most widely recognized of these artists are Richard Longs with his 1967 A line made by walking and
Hamish Fulton both dedicated to exploring nature and walking as art in and of itself. A number of
artists working in video and film include Bruce Naumans (US), 1967 Walking in an exaggerated
manner to Plan B (UK/DE), GPS animations and living cartographic portrait of Birmingham walkers in,
A Day in the Life (2010). A plethora of artists are presenting action through visual mediums including
photography and installation works such as Tim Knowles, Night Walks (2008) and Janet Cardiffs
Walk Book (1991).

Writers
The list of writers who walk is exhaustive to mention in full here but one of the earliest essays about
walking and thinking is William Hazlitts essay, On Going a Journey, written in 1821. Many followed in
his footsteps, from John Clare and Wordsworth to Robert Louis Stevenson and Henry David Thoreau
(US), including his 1862 essay Walking. On the other side of the world, Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)
the great master of the haiku, a form of verse made for celebrating nature and the outdoors in Japan,
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The Walking Institute: Vision Document

was recognised for his works during his lifetime and still today. The Narrow Road to the Deep North, a
series of haiku about his walk of several months through Northern Japan is known was one of the
most beautiful works of Japanese literature.
Contemporary writers have continued to develop notions around walking as art and in relation to
writing itself such as works by Ian Sinclair. Merlin Coverleys, The Art of Wandering is a good
overview and introduction to the notion of the writer as walker.
Rebecca Solnits (US), Wanderlust is great introduction to the history of walking as, too, is Geoff
Nicholsons, The lost Art of Walking(date). Robert Macfarlane has written extensively about walking in
many of his book including The Old Way: journeys on foot. He also introduces the Scottish writer Nan
Shepherds reissue of, The Living Mountain, in which she wrote about her observations and
experiences of the Cairngorms towards the end of WW2. It was not published until 1977 and again in
2011.
Many Artists are publishing books relating to their practice. For instance, Simon Whiteheads aptly
titled book Walking to Work, connects the process and the essential link to walking that not only
creates the work but without the act of walking the work would not exist.

Academic Literature and Research

There is a growing catalogue of academic writers research that includes walking. For example: Tim
Ingold of Aberdeen University, Carl Lavery, University Of Wales, Aberystwyth, Emma Cocker at
Nottingham Trent University, Dee Heddon, University of Glasgow, Misha Myers at Falmouth, Roberta
Mock and Phil Smith (Crab Man) at Plymouth University and Steven Hodge and Cathy Turner from
Wrights and Sites at Exeter University, to name but a few.
In recent years, research and acknowledgement of female artists working with walking has been
developed through the work of Dee Heddon and Cathy Turner. Interviews with female artists in this
research include, Sorrel Muggridge and Laura Nanni (CA) cross continent collaborations, Emma Bush
and her fieldworks, Rachel Gommes travelling through knitting, Elseth Owen, Simone Kenyon and
Tamara Ashley's long distance journeying, Esther Pilkingtons (DE) re-walking of Richard Longs
works and Clare Qualmanns work with Walk Walk Walk.

Dance and Choreography

The theme of walking or pedestrian movements within choreographic practices was a strong influence
in dance practices. American choreographers such as Trisha Brown with her, Man Walking Down the
Side of a Building (1970) and the work of Judson Dance Theatre opened up the possibilities of
embracing and commenting on the everyday through choreographic structure and of working within
sites outside of the theatre building. Dancers and choreographers exploring the physical, durational
and performative relationship to landscape and walking include, Simon Whitehead and Simone
Kenyon and Tamara. Body Weather artists, include Christine Quoirand (Fr), Oguri (JP/US) and Frank
van de Ven (NL) and Tess De Quincy (AU).
The development of release techniques and experiential anatomy work such as Body Mind Centering
and artist/therapy such as Andrea Olsen (US) and Miranda Tufnell (UK) also use walking and working
outdoors as a way of engaging with functional movement and research in and through environments.
Other systems explore the skeleton and functional integration such as the Feldenkrais Method and
Alexander technique cross the dance and therapy spectrums.

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Performance and Theatre

The performance arts have embraced a widening field of methodologies in their work. The dialogue
regarding walking as a medium is particularly lively within performance, and it encourages crossdisciplinary conversation and exploration through the nature and diversity of the artists working within
the field. One of the iconic works for example is the 90 day performance of Live Artists, Abramovi
(RS/US) and Ulays (DE) 1988, The Lover: the Great Wall of China.
Over the past 20 years in particular, academic interest has resulted in a number of conferences and
symposiums exploring art and ecology, in which walking usually has a special feature. People are
now working across departments and you will find many geographers giving performance lectures
and performative acts of walking within the context of performance studies.
The performance duo, Lone Twin are a good example of work that developed throughout the 1990s,
where performance artists presented conceptual ideas and texts through events, located in more
public sites, with a pedestrian audience passing through. Lone Twin opened up an interesting
dialogue with their audiences. Their work resided and lived alongside the daily traffic and routes of a
city, either cycling around the edge of a city for 1 month or pushing barrels of water through city
streets, or carrying a telegraph pole in a straight line across the whole town of Colchester.
The performance lecture in which these journeys were retold, is a format Lone Twin are celebrated for
and has become a growing format for research within the performance context. Essentially with all
these works walking was a key function to creating the work and also offered a rhythm and structure
for pieces such as Lone Twins 1997 piece, On Everest.
Walking artists such as Tim Brennan, Mike Pearson and Carl Lavery have begun using theatrical
forms of construction including the use of writing, narrative, story telling, both autobiographical and
fictional in relation to landscape and histories. Other works encompass visual, sculptural and
theatrical language like that of Robert Wilson's WALKING at the 2012, Norfolk and Norwich festival.

The Audio/sound walk

With the ever increasing development of transportable technologies and accessibility of software this
format has shown strong growth with particular artist now specializing in it. For example: Duncan
Speakman (http://productofcircumstance.com); artists working with new technologies, downloadable
applications and live broadcasting for participants to experience walking projects remotely, such as
Field Broadcast (www.fieldbroadcast.org); Jen Southerns (www.theportable.tv) walking work with the
collaboratively mapping and I Phone application Comob (www.comob.org.uk) to digitally connect
audiences to the performative event from multiple sites.

Online encounters and journeys

Artists are also exploring how to create face to face online communication and interaction with
audiences. For example, Heath Buntings Border Xing
(http://www2.tate.org.uk/intermediaart/borderxing.shtm).
Current research projects are exploring new technologies to develop artistic projects in direct relation
to location and the politics of landscape. This includes both geographically placed and site specific
contexts such as the Parallel Cities project (www.ciudadesparalelas.com) and Sideways Festival that
explores the pathscapes of the Belgian landscape (www.sideways2012.be). Walking as a means of
conversation can also be found online through Andrew Stucks Talking Walkings
(http://www.talkingwalking.net)

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Participation
With many projects that include walking as the main thread the physical participation is paramount to
experience the work. Participants can now engage with projects concerned with journeying, site
sensitive and environmental projects in a number of ways. Projects working with various technologies
are on the increase and this offers accessibility to the work for people of all ages and abilities and on
an international scale.

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APPENDIX 3: Some Current Walking & Arts Initiatives

Art and Research related:

Short arts led festivals (e.g. Sideways Festival in Belgium or Still Walking festival in
Birmingham)
Artistic projects with a fixed time frame (e.g. NVA projects)
Academic institutions (e.g. Anthropology Dept. at University of Aberdeen, Theatre Dept. at
University of Wales and AHRC funded research projects, Art, Space and Nature at Edinburgh
University)
Some artists residencies including Banff Arts Centre in Canada, but there is not an ongoing
programme of artist commissions and the themes of the research change annually
Other rural art organization such as Grizedale Arts in the Lake District, Aunehead Arts in Devon
and Fermynwood in Northamptonshire offer similar residential opportunities for artists in the
UK. However, programmes are varied and themes tend to be project related.

Non-Art related:
Traditional walking festivals: activity tends to consist of a variety of events that include circular,
coastal, themed walks; local and historical interest; talks and events; artistic input tends to be
skills related such as photography, painting and creative writing
Outdoor festivals concentrate on mountaineering experiences including, caving experience,
family rock climbing/scrambling, navigation skills, winter walking and led mountain walks for
advanced walkers
Institutions that concentrate on outdoor pursuits and tourism (e.g. Glenmore Lodge/Aviemore)
Health initiatives (NHS walk to health initiatives)
Environment (e.g. John Muir Trust initiatives)
Walking groups and networks (e.g. local hillwalking clubs or the Ramblers)

None of the above combine year round activity with the discourse of walking & art through both
research and on the ground walking action.

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The Walking Institute: Vision Document

APPENDIX 4: Deveron Arts - Past Walking projects

Walking Lunches: 'time saving' moving meetings that allow people to combine a working meeting
with healthy exercise during lunch hour. (Ongoing since 2009)
Walky Talkies: monthly walks around the Aberdeenshire countryside from one artist studio to the
next. (2007)
Deveron Manoeuvres: two walks relating to the Deveron Arts town collection and the Battlehill
Woods by Tim Brennan. (2009)
21 Days in the Cairngorms: a walk by internationally renowned walking artist Hamish Fulton leading
from Huntly to Glenmore Lodge. (2010)
Walkachats: monthly events bringing people from all over Scotland together to talk about a burning
issue during a longer hill walk. (2011)
UK Border Walk: was a walking action with Rocca Gutteridge from Upsettlington to Hungry Law via
Shid Law along the English/Scottish border, highlighting the problems of visa policies for overseas
artists. (2011)
Its Knot Magic: was a modern day pilgrimage by Norma Hunter in her function as Arts Visitor. Norma
walked the 130 miles distance from the wells of Munlochy carrying healing waters to Huntly to set up
a wishing tree. (2011)
Walkingand...: a blog-style website looking at walking and art activities from all walks of life
developed by Rocca Gutteridge. www.walkingand.org. (2011)
Slow Marathon: was an event bringing over 400 people together to walk together the total distance
of 5850 miles from Addis Ababa to Huntly. (2012)
Walk sans Frontires: a discussion event about walking, access and crossing frontiers. Chaired by
Deirdre Hedden, University of Glasgow. (2012)
Rites of Way: a writing programme with Alan McPherson around walking, ending in a path -creating
performance through walking one line entitled Minor Path. (2012)
Walking off the Grid: Michael Hpfner walked a 30 miles circuit around Huntly over 14 days;
discovering new perceptions of landscape. (2012)

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The Walking Institute: Vision Document