Longshore Drift

We gathered. We walked. We didn't talk. We looked. We listened. We smelt. We tasted with our skin and our eyes. We felt. We walked and stopped and walked and stopped. We looked up and down. We gathered. We gathered. We stopped to talk. We scattered. We walked. Longshore Drift is a series of artist led walks that are part of the R&D for An Infinite Line: Merseyside. On 18th October two groups of walkers set off from Ainsdale Discovery Centre in Sefton. On 21st November two more walks will take place in Formby.  

1st Task:

We won’t talk again, unless talking is part of a task, until the end of the walk.

Just walking.  And listening.  And hearing.  And looking.  And seeing.  And smelling and sensing and trying to be aware. Talking can just get in the way. We won’t talk again, unless talking is part of a task, until the end of the walk. That’s our first task.

2nd Task:

Listen. Make a list of everything you can hear. Look. Make a list of everything you can see which is catching the light.

3rd Task:

Describe the sky. Describe the sky in words. Describe the colour of the sky. Describe its texture. Describe how it moves and what moves in it. Record what catches your eye. Describe the clouds and the light. Create a picture of the sky in words.

4th Task:

Some questions for us to answer from where we are now.

1.    Where is the light now? Where is light catching your eye?

2.   What is the texture of the light?

3.   What moves here?

4.   If the light was a sound, what would you hear?

5.   What is the colour of the light?

6.   What can you smell?

7.   How do you feel?

5th Task:

As we walk for the next 10 minutes, keep your eye out for small things. Small, unimportant things that catch your eye, and collect them in your bag. We’ll carry them with us for the rest of the walk. It doesn’t matter how many or how few things you collect, but you have to have at least one thing.

6th Task:

We’re going to stay here for 5 minutes and have a little rest. While we’re here we can talk, so that we can describe to each other what we’re aware of here. We’ll take it in turns to simply describe what we are experiencing. What we can see or hear or smell or feel, or how we feel. Try to see the un-noticed things. Not everyone has to speak, but if you speak, all you can do is describe what you can see, or hear, or smell, or feel. You can say nothing, or one word, or a lot. Be sensitive to who wants to speak and who wants to be quiet. And be precise.

7th Task:

We’re all going to spread out, here. We’re all going to get as far away from each other as we can, but at our furthest point we must be able to see everyone else. When we’re all in our furthest places, we’ll write or draw, describing what we can see. Look for the details, use other people’s positions to help you notice things. Be precise.