I am happy to say that I am on my way to Camallera near Girona in Cataluña / Catalonia, where I am taking up an Artist’s Residency at Nau Côclea (Centre de Creació Contemporània Nau Côchlea).
I will be walking around the edge of the town, the boundary of the area, listening to the sounds of the place, and to ‘stories’ from the soil. When I make a Sound Walk, I follow the signs. I take notice of what happens around me when I am in the research and preparation stage.
I had been reading about the current interest in engaging with the legacy of Francisco Franco’s authoritarian regime, and consequent human suffering. The suppression of democratic freedom and the Catalan language had far-reaching results. I have studied The Historical Memory Law, followed the opening of some Civil War mass graves, spoken with people about inherited grief, and noted the rituals being enacted around the acknowledgement of the loss on many levels.
When I discovered that my visit corresponds with the annual walk across the Pyrénées from France in memory of Walter Benjamin, I knew I must join it. Benjamin was directed across the mountains by Lisa Fittko and received bad news on arrival in Port Bou on the Spanish side. He died by suicide that night, before being able to finally escape to the United States.
This level of inter-generational trauma takes time, so much time, to leave the gene pool. It surges through bloodlines … How to tell a new story of resilience and hope? Is this history of loss held in the soil?… How can we honour the suffering of our ancestors – of those who came before us – but still try to unravel the chains we find ourselves bound by? Is the answer held within the very soil… Is the answer held in the residue the ghosts leave behind?
Kerri ni Dochartaigh Thin Places p186
I come to this residency with many years of embodied study of death, grief and loss – personally, and through my Shiatsu work, death cafes, and writing. This coincidence, then, came as no surprise. I know that the Sound Walk that I will be making during my residency may concern grief, loss and renewal as a result, although I won’t know until I begin.
If you are interested in this project and able to come between 20 November and 2 December, I am inviting you to join me for one day or part of one day, to walk and listen, to share your feelings. We will co-create a Sound Walk from these experiences which will then live on in Camallera for anyone to join at a later date.
Dates: 20 November and 2 December. There is one bed for you to stay a night in the artist’s cottage. Let me know if you are interested! tamsinlgrainger@gmail.com
Festivities and DelegatesEl Grand Tour Grave, Cataluña
A new sound walk and installation made in a tunnel for Watch This Space #4WCoP23 September 2023 using graffiti by North Edinburgh artists and local history.
‘Is There a Place for REVOlution? or Peace and Biscuits’ is on the Chancelot cycle path under Ferry Road in Edinburgh on one of the greenways. What3Words ///fallen.reach.bottle
You can use your phone to activate the QR code and listen while you walk through the tunnel. Using graffiti, images and found text, it includes a site-specific art installation.
#4WCoP23
“AET REY NOOD Do you recognise this language? DAERB REY TAE. Can Google translate it? It’s ABout DOing / Or Don’t Be And (face the consequences).” This is text from the new Sound Walk.
Is There a Place for REVOlution or Peace and Biscuits mini-video
I’m playing with words, making my own acronyms which are inspired by the found text. For example, “And Between Doing Or Don’t Be. Anyway, By Doing Otherwise, Deciding to Be And Bide, Doesn’t Our Doing Become……A Beautiful Door Opening. Or Don’t Butterflies Ascend?’ Am I speaking in riddles? I hope I haven’t lost you.
Is There a Place for REVOlution? Graffiti in the Ferry Road tunnel ABDO (reading from right to left: ODBA) is a character in Egyptian writer, Deena Mohammed’s Your Wish is my Command, a graphic novel
Using found words / graffiti that spoke to me
Unless you people see signs and wonders you will never believe
80% of ocean life is dead
Many
Deaths
Lives Matter
Unfuck the system
Fight
REVOlution, Revolt, Revoke
Part of the Peace and Biscuits sound walk script
Postcard made for the 4th World Congress of Psychogeography 2023
In this soundwalk, there’s some local history, activism and suggestions for when you are in a dark tunnel and cannot see the light at the end, the way out. There’s a film here on Vimeo that gives you a (silent) idea of the walk.
“I often use Street Wisdom if I need to get an insight on a situation or a problem. Once I’m tuned up, I’II hold the issue and just walk with that in mind and body, and see what happens. (It’s basically a shorthand way of doing the Quest: “Streets, show me some options with all this!”) Something often, if not always, will come. Sometimes it’s slant to the topic. The other day I was full of different stresses, and the streets shared with me all kinds of patterns that seemed interconnected. I interpreted that insight as “Everything’s connected” (it’s nice to reduce the insight to 2 or 3 words). And that really helped!
Philip Cowell
With MANY thanks to Alba Bersolí (film maker ‘El día que volaron la montaña’ (When the Mountain Rumbles shown at the Catalan Film Festival in Edinburgh 2023 on Instagram @albabresolí ) for lending me her laptop and teaching me some Premiere Pro, going above and beyond to support me, and being an all-round wonderful woman.
A walk from the Tuileries Gardens (Louvre art gallery end) to the Pont Neuf, along the Seine, and back through the Tuileries Tunnel with art works. I aimed to walk through the tunnel in the other (west-east) direction, but couldn’t find the entrance. Google maps to the rescue! Note that it says ‘Closed’ though at the time of writing that means only to cars and lorries etc.
Come out of the Tuileries Gardens by the end of the Louvre (above) and instead of walking across the zebra crossing to the river, take a right on the same side (the barbed wire towering above you)‘This is a Revolution’. Above the entrance to the Tuileries Tunnel Tuileries Tunnel (Tuileries Gardens / Louvre) entrance
Walk along the Seine
The Seine river with the Pont des Arts in the distance. I was looking for some space and a more natural environment after many noisy walks across the city to and from work during the week. A long row of luminous silver birches lines the River Seine River Seine Short pedestrian tunnel beside the River Seine
Look to your left for make-shift homes and art work. Signs indicating historical sites of interest and local history are on the walls too, including the story of the Washerwomen. During the18th century, more than 80 boats would have been moored along the banks of the Seine, each carrying 24 washerwomen (‘a gigantic laundry’). Others built a jetty, illegally, and stationed themselves there to hang out the washing to dry. Eventually the boats were condemned as a hindrance to river traffic, and ‘the smalls’ unseemly to be seen from the Louvre and the Tuileries Palace.
It looks like someone or some people are staying here under the bridgearborglyphs (words and images cut into tree bark) The Washerwomen
Tuileries Tunnel
Details:
From the Tuileries Gardens (close to the Louvre art gallery) to half way between the Pont des Arts and the Pont Neuf on the north/right bank
800m long – once you’re in, there’s no escape
10 European street artists
Parallel to the Seine River
Open only to walkers and cyclists
Including Andrea Ravo Mattoni, Hydrane, Lek & Sowat, Bault, Ërell, Madame, Romain Froquet
Artistic direction: Nicolas Laugero Lasserre, with the support of the City of Paris
Text from the @m_a_d_a_m_e (below) ‘De l’obscur au clair ce n’est pas l’œil oui change mais la façon dont on Louvre’ meaning, approximately, ‘from dark to light, it’s not the eye that changes but the way we Louvre.’
@m_a_d_a_m_e Tuileries Tunnel Paris ‘Heart’ No spotlight on homelessness
The Tuileries Tunnel is a cross between a cold contemporary art gallery and a graffitied tunnel. With all the ambience of the Channel one (linking Dover and Calais), once you are in it you are only reminded of its Parisian location by occasional French texts. Overlaid now with random graffiti, it’s hard to distinguish between the original and later-added work.
Owl Fox @warindawest War imagery
Lighting changes colour like switching traffic beacons and affects the frescoes. Beam-me-up blue ones invite you to stand underneath, back to the sides – part interrogatory, part revelatory. Some works stretch along the walls, like the dancing figures or running wild animals, moving and flowing; others decorate with familiar blocks of primary coloured letters or the image of Frida Kahlo. All are constantly interacting with their audience, some concentrating only on running and others defacing them.
Women’s workBreakdancers maybe Lifematters @kouka_ntadi Michelle Obama quote: “There are no limits to what we, as women, can accomplish.”
There isn’t one theme, though the fight for life and peace features strongly. The art works do not, collectively, tell a story, nor do they offer a message (unlike the Colinton Tunnel or No Birds Land in Edinburgh), though there is immense subtlety in some of them despite the conditions of the walls and the external temperature.
Tuileries Tunnel Paris Tuileries Tunnel Paris
Half way through, I wasn’t sure I wanted to stay, but I had to either go back or on. There is a rawness in the air, a sense of disquiet, with none of the cosyness of a National Gallery or safety of a contemporary white box. Certainly there is impermanence – there are no guarantees that what you are witnessing will be there tomorrow.
Way in / out
Link to tourist website page about the Tuileries Tunnel
Info board
Nearest public toilets: Tuileries Gardens, Rue de Rivoli / Place des Pyramides entrance.
For a good takeaway try Aki Boulangerie, 16 Rue de Sainte-Anne, 75001 Paris (Japanese take-away meals: those works-of-art-cum-French-pâtisserie (cakes is too pedestrian a description), real delicacies. I had a briquette (I think it was called) sort of deep fried breadcrumbs outside with curried veg inside – delicious).
Great green tea Diddy little teapot!
For the best, simple green tea served in the tiddliest teapot (there’s plenty – quality not quantity) in Paris (so far) try Atelier WM – 45 Rue de Richelieu, 75001 Paris, France
Feeding the birds Seagulls
Have you been to the tunnel? What did you think? Please do leave a comment below.
Part of the Separation and Unity Project, Cataluña, July 2022
This wall hanging, ‘Festivities and Delegates’ represents an act of unity, the bringing together of many of those who attended the Walking Art and Relational Geographies International Encounters conference in Cataluna in July 2022. Planned for several years, but thwarted by the pandemic, delegates were at last able to travel from Australia, South Africa, Brazil, America and Europe to the conference in Girona, Olot, and Vic to share walking art and community projects via presentations and walkshops over a period of a week.
This work was inspired by the 18th /19th century ‘Saints and Festivities for the months of April to November’ in the Museu Montserrat. I climbed up there after attending the conference. The ornate Russian ‘menologion’ is a calendar featuring rows of saints, above which are their names and the dates of the days on which they are honoured, in cyrillic script.
This would have been a visual reminder of the annual Masses of the Orthodox Church which celebrated many different saints.
A menologion (menologium, menology, menologue, menologia) was sometimes a liturgical ‘office’, an ecclesiastical, Eastern Orthodox service book or martyrology; a long list of saints and the details of their lives arranged according to the months of the year.
It is not dissimilar to the secular mural at the National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh depicting key figures and events in the history of Scotland. The Separation and Unity Project is interested in the movements towards and away from independence by Scottish and Catalonian peoples, at what urges us to separate from, or join with each other.
I am also referencing Buddhist and Hindu mandalas, and other celebratory depictions used to inspire their followers and remind them of the true path. Mandalas come in many shapes and sizes, often using geometric arrangements. They can represent the whole universe, and be used as a way to separate from everyday existence and focus on what is important for greater knowledge. The Vajrabhairava mandala, for example, is a silk tapestry woven with gilded paper depicting lavish elements like crowns and jewelry.
The human mind is like “A microcosm representing various divine powers at work in the universe”
John Ankerberg and John Weldon (343:1996) via Wikipedia (see below)
Process and production of Festivities and Delegates
I took digital photos and video stills from my phone documentation of the conference and the social time we spent together, and manipulated the images using free Layout software. In some cases I used social media images. Instead of the elaborate calligraphy that you can see on the Russian ‘Festivities…, I wrote free-hand with my finger or with a biro.
Details: 160cm long and 70cm wide, mixed media – sewed from scraps of upholstery fabric which came from free sample books. Ribbons, tapes and sundry, shiny objects such as bells, earings which have lost their pairs, and sequins. Iron-on paper was used to transfer the photographs onto the fabric.
It incorporates a number of small brass and other metal bells, with reflective totems. These were/are often used to ward off evil spirits, to bring ones attention into the moment, to reflect the devil’s face back to him, and, contrastingly, even to represent the sound of the Buddha’s ‘voice’ spouting wisdom. The protective aspect would also traditionally have been as much from the ‘monkey mind’ and other natural inner temptations, as from what might be attacking us from the outside. Tantric mandalas would have been an aspect of separation and protection from the outer Samsaric world.
Quote: from their ‘Encylopedia of New Age Beliefs: The New Age Movement’, (p. 343, ISBN 9781565071605 archived from the original on 2016-06-03, retrieved 2015-11-15)
Where can you go to walk along and listen to The Wall?
Here are the co-ordinates: 55.984877, -3.232373
What 3 words: ///piles.cargo.whips
Enter Chestnut Street, turn left along Hesperus Crossway and at the end of the street, walk straight ahead. It may be necessary to find a gap in the fence. You will see the wall in front of you and the QR code should be hanging on a bracket in the section to the left of another wire fence. Otherwise, you can access the Soundcloud recording using the link below and it will tell you what to do and when.
So-called common ground
The developers regularly shut off the area (which is ironic (see below)) and it’s sometimes hard to get to this installation. However, if you are unable to, you can listen below, look at the photos, and imagine you are walking!
At the very edge of the harbour, bordering a piece of scrubland whose time is nearly up – it won’t be long before it is ‘developed’ – is a tall wall separating the reclaimed land from the sea. It’s hard to find out who built it and why, but I have a pretty good idea. It’s marked as Granton Breakwater on google maps, although there are in fact three ‘arms’ to the harbour: the best known is Eastern Breakwater (note that the beach, Wardie Bay, is to the east side of that); the Middle Pier (recently renamed Chestnut Street – why?); and the Western one where the soundwalk is located.
chamomileBuddleiaRose Bay WillowherbThe land has been allowed to get on with flourishing
This is a spot of ‘guerilla art’, in the same vein as guerilla gardening!
Walls have been in the news in recent years and this unprepossessing one tends to go unnoticed, with the general exception of dogs and their companions. It borders the area which is, as I say, undergoing intense development, most of it for the luxury market. The plans show that there will be concrete walkways and a communal ‘garden’.
Walls serve complex functions and produce varying effects on the socio-geographical aspects of an area, an area in this case which has a rich history. The Granton community used to work and play here every day, it was alive with industry, and their voices can still be heard if you listen carefully.
Before – the site of an old railway with hooks for cables
In the meantime, small parts of the harbour have been returned to straight channels of water, and the railway line and its attendant buildings have, in the most part, disappeared.
It is a psychogeographer’s dream!
After
Keeping people in check – restrictions
The wall has a distinctive voice. It is not shy to speak, indeed it wants to be heard, it has something to say. After all, it’s another of those structures, like trees and the sea, which is always in one place, come rain, come shine, and has therefore witnessed a lot of what goes on over the ages. The southern end is still covered with roughcast, a sort of pebbledash, and if you look carefully there are fragments of crockery and other interesting hints of these lives.
(Beware the thistles! And try not to crush the chamomile, although if you arrive before midday you can gingerly remove a handful of flowers for a tisane which will taste quite delicious compared to the tea bags you can get in Lidl. The plants will simply send out more blooms in response, and their days are numbered).
Chamomile
This is a land of fences, and as fast as ‘they’ put them up, people have found ways through. Mostly. This was, after all, common ground for nearly 200 years. However, there are two places now where access / exit is impossible, making it necessary to approach the installation the long way round, past security cameras, and for no discernible reason.
Hesperus Crossway
During the past few years, place names have been changed, walls have been smoothed over, fittings removed, and ‘messy’ buildings have been redecorated so as to almost wipe out any hint of their former daily functions. The result is a gentrification and appropriation (in the name of regeneration), which erases most external reminders of the past. It must be remembered, though, that ‘the past’ was made by people, and many of those people still live in the area. Their memories are part of who they are; this past is a valuable part of their lives.
The chalk mural will disappear over time, and if a previous installation, No Birds Land is anything to go by, it may also be vandalised. These changes will be part of the duration and time-based aspects of the piece. It will be difficult to know who walks, hears and sees the installation, but by pacing the edgeland like this, learning about this liminal area and feeling the effect it gives, it is hoped that you and it will be stimulated. (Since then I have used spray chalk to redo the mural which should last longer in the weather.)
The Wall
You can locate this soundwalk and installation by taking the West Harbour Road, and turning onto Chestnut Street. There is a ‘Private’ sign. Turn left onto Hesperus Crossway, and go to the very end of the road.
what 3 words: ///voted.cycles.impose
Slip through the fence and walk forwards. It is a dead end, and in front of you is The Wall.
The sign says that this land is privateSecurity camerasNote the cycle lane opposite a ‘no cycling’ sign!
There is a new fence to your left, meeting the wall at right angles, part of which has been pushed down. You can go over that into the section of scrub land and walk towards the wall. There you will see the QR code to scan with your mobile phone and can then listen to the walk (headphones will probably be best).
Slip through the fenceIt’s a dead end with a wall. There is also a new fence at right angles on the left
You will see some of the chalk drawing ahead of you, and the wall stretching to both sides with the main part of the installation to the left. Once you are listening to the audio, you can walk in each direction according to the instructions, or make your own choice. In total the sound walk is 13 minutes 44 seconds, and it could take you around half an hour to 45 minutes to explore the whole.
You can walk south, inland towards the cityYou can also walk north, towards Fife
Please note that there is nowhere to park except on West Harbour Road, so it’s best to cycle or walk. Or, you can get a bus to Granton Square (16, 47, 19, 200) and walk from there – it will take you around 10 minutes.
If you are not in Edinburgh or cannot get to the harbour, here is a link to the audio part.
Quotes and references are from/to
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The Wreck of the Hesperus
Rachel Carson Under the Sea Wind
RLS ‘From a Railway Carriage’
Local street names
I have tried to upload the walk to the Echoes app but it has been unsuccessful. I will try again later.
You may also like to download the Curious Edinburgh app, which will take you to other aspects of the harbour and tell you all about it. Also the Granton History and Railscot websites.
Walking without a donkey 