Bellever Quiet Walk

26 April 2013, Bellever Forest, Dartmoor, Devon.

Last night seven of us sat in silence in Bellever Forest and listened to the day's last song thrush sing as the sun set. Although it was alone, its voice echoed off the far slope of the valley; a duet of one. Then we walked up onto the top of the ridge by the tor and watched the full moon rise. The simplest things. 

Review of first Quiet Walk

Photo: Richard Povall

This was not intended to be a strenuous walk, the kind of walk that will always warm you up, but a ‘quiet walk’, a walk focussed on listening and being open and aware – on being, in fact. 

A lovely review of our first Quiet Walk by Richard Povall on his Start Bay Blog here.

Newbridge Quiet Walk

At just before dawn this morning seven of us set off on the first Quiet Walk organised by Very Quiet Records and Aune Head Arts. We followed Devon's River Dart upstream on to the edge of Dartmoor. Following days of rain the river was in spate, and quite impressive. The recording below, the first in a series that will document these walks, presents 60 minutes of fast flowing tumbling river as it runs through a deep valley on the edge of Dartmoor. Its static, white noise, but full of complexity and some rather impressive lower frequencies.

Radio Anywhere

Just finished the second of two training sessions on field recording with the good folk of Totnes's Soundart Radio and the Radio Anywhere project...

"Soundart Radio Anywhere is a new project from Soundart Radio 102.5fm, a licensed arts radio station in South Devon.

Radio Anywhere Ambassadors will broadcast from their homes, streets, neighbourhoods, towns and planet with Soundart’s amazing new studio-in-a-box.

We’re looking forward to hearing a wide range of new sounds and voices from many places, including school concerts, woods and rivers, Sunday morning church services, live shows from living rooms and kitchens, and village fêtes and meetings.

And hopefully all kinds of things we haven’t yet imagined."

For more info visit http://soundartradioanywhere.tumblr.com/about

Quiet Walk

A quiet walk invites participants to listen. To listen in detail. To find a place far from the crowd. A place where small things can be heard. A place where you can hear your own footsteps. A place where you can follow the sound a falling leaf. A place where other voices sing. We will not walk in silence. We will simply walk quietly and share whatever we hear.

On Sunday, 24 February, from 5pm to 8pm, Very Quiet Record's Tony Whitehead is leading the first of a series of Quiet Walks for Aune Head Arts - this one at Bellever Forest on Dartmoor, Devon.

These are an extension of the Very Quiet Records label. Each will be at a naturally quiet time, either at night or dusk/dawn.

More details and booking here

Assemblage

In November I'm participating in an art event in Yarner Wood on Dartmoor. The event is a series of interventions, installations and responses to the managed landscape by a group of artists whose current work investigates the landscape and environment and the relationship humans have with them. My contribution will be a quiet space, and quiet sit. More to follow.

The wood between the worlds

On the evening of 11 July a small group of wanderers wandered along lanes, through forest and over heath. Stories were told of alien cats and winged horrors and Honda civics. Of laurel and cyanide. Of sheep rolling and foxes in vans. Rush lights were stripped. Mole hills were excavated and flints sparked. Goatsuckers sang their crepuscular songs while white tissues were waved. Chocolate was eaten. Constellations were traced near the 23rd post. Dark mirrors were gazed at and revealed subtle lights and gentle ripples. And phosphenes danced. And owls called. And the air moved gently. Then it was midnight and the wanderers went home.

This walk was part of Spacex Gallery's Topophobia