Description
In their 'Guidebook for an Armchair Pilgrimage', authors Phil Smith, Tony Whitehead and photographer John Schott lead us on a 'virtual' journey to explore difference and change on their way to an unknown destination. They create a pilgrimage that any of us can follow, even if we are confined to our homes. To research the 'Guidebook' the authors went on an actual journey. 'Bonelines' is the secret story of that journey. Given the present circumstances it now appears prophetic, prescient and helpful, so they have decided to bring it into the light. It is written as a novel.
The 'ground' from which Bonelines rose lies mostly between Newton Abbot, Totnes and Ashburton in the southern part of the county of Devon (UK). There is an anonymity there, the area has no encompassing name; it consists of gently rolling hills, scattered communities punctuated by an occasional Saxon cruciform village, and a complex of often deserted Devon lanes, footpaths and pedestrian hollow ways. ... As stories emerged from this landscape, and as in our long pedestrian conversations we began to flesh out the skeleton of an exemplary fable with elements of a roman a clef, we widened our geographical scope and walked the land between Dawlish and Exminster, around Bovey Tracey and the lower Teign Valley, and the backstreets of Torquay; guided by the unfolding narrative demands of the novel. At the same time we were subjected to an intensity of coincidence and connection that would have been frightening if it had not been quite so exciting. On one occasion we stood on the footpath of the coastal road between Torquay and Paignton with the poet Sam Kemp, discussing the fantasy of subterranean aliens conjured in the novel 'Vril: The Power of the Coming Race' by Torquay novelist and imperialist politician Edward Bulwer-Lytton; a few days later the pavement at this spot collapsed into a huge sink hole.
About the Author
Tony Whitehead is a Devon based artist with a deep interest in the landscape, it's natural and human histories, the interactions between people and place, and the stories that emerge from walking and listening deeply to the land. He has been involved in numerous sound art projects, from Sonic Arts Network's Sonic Postcards in the early 2000s to long term involvement with Soundart Radio in Totnes. He is a co-curator of the Quiet Night In concert series. Recently he has become a director of Skylark FM, a community based experimental radio station for Dartmoor. Tony is also a sound recordist and runs the Very Quiet Records Netlabel. He has a love of walking, myth, psychogeography, and landscape and has walked many miles with Phil Smith, co-author of Bonelines. For over thirty years Tony has also worked for the RSPB, and with a love of birds, rund regular workshops to help people identify birdsong. Dr. Phil Smith is a performance-maker, writer and academic researcher, specialising in work around walking, site-specificity, mythogeographies and counter-tourism. With artist Helen Billinghurst, he is one half of Crab & Bee, who have recently completed an exhibition and walking project called 'Plymouth Labyrinth (funded by Arts Council England), a short walking project in the Isles of Scilly and a residency at Teats Hill slipway. They are currently engaged in a series of walks across the UK researching their forthcoming book, The Pattern (2020). With Tony Whitehead and photographer John Schott, Phil recently published Guidebook for an Armchair Pilgrimage with Triarchy Press. He is currently developing a 'subjectivity-protective movement practice' with Canada-based choreographer Melanie Kloetzel. With Claire Hind and Helen Billinghurst, he co-organised the 2019 'Walking's New Movements' conference at the University of Plymouth. As company dramaturg and co-writer for TNT Theatre (Munich), he most recently premiered 'Free Mandela', co-authored with TNT's artistic director Paul Stebbings, about the end of apartheid in South Africa. Paul and Phil are presently working on a book about TNT Theatre's transformation from tiny experimental theatre company to global touring organisation. Phil is a member of site-based arts collective Wrights & Sites, who recently published The Architect-Walker (2018). As well as Walking Stumbling Limping Falling (2017) with poet Alyson Hallett, Phil's publications include Making Site-Specific Theatre and Performance (Red Globe/Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), Rethinking Mythogeography (2018) (with US photographer John Schott), Anywhere (2017), A Footbook of Zombie Walking and Walking's New Movement (2015), On Walking and Enchanted Things (2014), Counter-Tourism: The Handbook (2012) and Mythogeography (2010). He is an Associate Professor (Reader) at the University of Plymouth.
Book Information
ISBN 9781913743062
Author Phil Smith
Format Paperback
Page Count 362
Imprint Triarchy Press
Publisher Triarchy Press
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 15mm
The 'ground' from which Bonelines rose lies mostly between Newton Abbot, Totnes and Ashburton in the southern part of the county of Devon (UK). There is an anonymity there, the area has no encompassing name; it consists of gently rolling hills, scattered communities punctuated by an occasional Saxon cruciform village, and a complex of often deserted Devon lanes, footpaths and pedestrian hollow ways. ... As stories emerged from this landscape, and as in our long pedestrian conversations we began to flesh out the skeleton of an exemplary fable with elements of a roman a clef, we widened our geographical scope and walked the land between Dawlish and Exminster, around Bovey Tracey and the lower Teign Valley, and the backstreets of Torquay; guided by the unfolding narrative demands of the novel. At the same time we were subjected to an intensity of coincidence and connection that would have been frightening if it had not been quite so exciting. On one occasion we stood on the footpath of the coastal road between Torquay and Paignton with the poet Sam Kemp, discussing the fantasy of subterranean aliens conjured in the novel 'Vril: The Power of the Coming Race' by Torquay novelist and imperialist politician Edward Bulwer-Lytton; a few days later the pavement at this spot collapsed into a huge sink hole.
About the Author
Tony Whitehead is a Devon based artist with a deep interest in the landscape, it's natural and human histories, the interactions between people and place, and the stories that emerge from walking and listening deeply to the land. He has been involved in numerous sound art projects, from Sonic Arts Network's Sonic Postcards in the early 2000s to long term involvement with Soundart Radio in Totnes. He is a co-curator of the Quiet Night In concert series. Recently he has become a director of Skylark FM, a community based experimental radio station for Dartmoor. Tony is also a sound recordist and runs the Very Quiet Records Netlabel. He has a love of walking, myth, psychogeography, and landscape and has walked many miles with Phil Smith, co-author of Bonelines. For over thirty years Tony has also worked for the RSPB, and with a love of birds, rund regular workshops to help people identify birdsong. Dr. Phil Smith is a performance-maker, writer and academic researcher, specialising in work around walking, site-specificity, mythogeographies and counter-tourism. With artist Helen Billinghurst, he is one half of Crab & Bee, who have recently completed an exhibition and walking project called 'Plymouth Labyrinth (funded by Arts Council England), a short walking project in the Isles of Scilly and a residency at Teats Hill slipway. They are currently engaged in a series of walks across the UK researching their forthcoming book, The Pattern (2020). With Tony Whitehead and photographer John Schott, Phil recently published Guidebook for an Armchair Pilgrimage with Triarchy Press. He is currently developing a 'subjectivity-protective movement practice' with Canada-based choreographer Melanie Kloetzel. With Claire Hind and Helen Billinghurst, he co-organised the 2019 'Walking's New Movements' conference at the University of Plymouth. As company dramaturg and co-writer for TNT Theatre (Munich), he most recently premiered 'Free Mandela', co-authored with TNT's artistic director Paul Stebbings, about the end of apartheid in South Africa. Paul and Phil are presently working on a book about TNT Theatre's transformation from tiny experimental theatre company to global touring organisation. Phil is a member of site-based arts collective Wrights & Sites, who recently published The Architect-Walker (2018). As well as Walking Stumbling Limping Falling (2017) with poet Alyson Hallett, Phil's publications include Making Site-Specific Theatre and Performance (Red Globe/Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), Rethinking Mythogeography (2018) (with US photographer John Schott), Anywhere (2017), A Footbook of Zombie Walking and Walking's New Movement (2015), On Walking and Enchanted Things (2014), Counter-Tourism: The Handbook (2012) and Mythogeography (2010). He is an Associate Professor (Reader) at the University of Plymouth.
Book Information
ISBN 9781913743062
Author Phil Smith
Format Paperback
Page Count 362
Imprint Triarchy Press
Publisher Triarchy Press
Dimensions(mm) 234mm * 156mm * 15mm
