Join us on the 9th, 10th and 11th of September 2022 as Livingmaps goes live for a festival-style weekend of creative counter-mapping.
Explore live walks & workshops, as well as activities to do in your own space and time over the weekend. All events are free unless specified, but please do book a ticket for the Live Events.
Please send any photos, text notes, thoughts, musings or meditations from the weekend to live@livingmaps.org.uk and if you share anything via social media, use the hashtag #livingmapslive
Any queries can be sent to live@livingmaps.org.uk
TICKETS HERE: https://livingmaps_live.eventbrite.co.uk
PROGRAMME
1. LIVE WALKS/WORKSHOPS
2. IN YOUR OWN TIME & PLACE
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1. LIVE WALKS/WORKSHOPS
● Adventures in Landmarking: a Demolition Project Walkshop
Sunday 11th September | Start time: 14:00 | Cost: Free
Location: Meet outside Angel Tube Station, Islington, London
Google Maps Link: https://goo.gl/maps/3u9KhcosijDCSNQR9
Description: What sort of things are marked on a map, and who decides they are worth recording? In this practical workshop (or ‘walkshop’) we’ll explore a corner of the city and make our own personal maps of the streets, public areas and green spaces. We’ll look for any landmarks we think are worth noting – especially the temporary, subjective, informal and ephemeral – and share them using writing, smartphone photography and sound recording, and group discussion.
Is the event accessible? It involves walking or moving but no special skills are required - let us know any access requirements in advance and we will tailor it accordingly.
The Demolition Project is Alisa Oleva and Debbie Kent, two artists who make collaborative and solo work around walking and the city and have worked together in London, Manchester, Leeds, Berlin, Belgrade, Moscow, Vilnius, Dnipro and Ekaterinburg including audiowalks, scores and durational projects.
● City of London Urban Climate Walking Tour with Dr Julie Futcher
Saturday 10th September | Start & Finish Times: 12:00 – 15:00 | Cost: Free
Location (See Map):
Meeting point (1) The Martha Smith Memorial Water Fountain - 39 Finsbury Square, London, EC2A
Finishing Point (9) The Thames Path London Bridge
Description: The City of London urban climate walking tour (established 2014) is as much about architecture as it is about urban climates; and provides a unique perspective of our built environments by demonstrating the far-reaching and direct links between building and urban form, climate, energy and health and wellbeing.
The route leads us through a series of urban streets and public spaces, where we explore some of the consequences of the cities urban morphology on the background climate. The walk provides the opportunity for us to discuss the quality of the spaces in terms of their physical form, materiality and social implications, alongside their influence on green and blue infrastructure and thermal comfort, all critical components of healthy climate resilient cities.
The City of London urban climate walking tour (established 2014) has been designed to teach the principles of urban climatology from an interdisciplinary perspective to a wide range of built environment practitioners; nevertheless, the walk is suitable for anyone with an interest in the climates of cities.
The walk takes between 2 and 3 hours giving plenty of time for discussion; and can be done under all weather conditions… In fact, the harsher the conditions the more dramatic the walk ….
Sensible clothing and footwear are essential – this is not a walk in the park!
Is the event accessible? This event is accessible.
Dr Julie Futcher is a chartered architect and an independent consultant on sustainable urban development. Her research explores the role of London’s emerging morphology in the context of climate responsive urbanism, and focuses on the dynamic and interdependent influence of built form (particularly tall buildings and increasing urban density), on access to passive resources (i.e., day sunlight and ventilation), and in turn, building energy management (heating, cooling and ventilation). Her research falls at the intersection of building and urban physics, policy, building and urban climate science, and draws attention to many of the built-form outcomes which currently fall outside the broader discussion on sustainable urban development.
● Self Cities: Interrogating Location and Identity through Fictional Cities. With Klara Blazek
Sunday 11th September | Start & Finish Times: 14:00 - 16:00 | Cost: £5 (pay on the day)
Location: Level 5, House of Sport, 190 Great Dover St, London SE1 4YB
Google Maps link: https://goo.gl/maps/DKPs1FnWsAP5Sd3s7
Description: Most people are not defined by a singular place. Where you were born, where your family is from, where you used to live, and where you currently live can vastly differ. All of these places play a role in your locational identity, as formative locations instrumental to your personal development. Despite this, we are frequently asked for an overly simplified answer regarding locational identity, misrepresenting or negating those with more complex identities such as multi-nationals, immigrants, and diaspora.
In this workshop we will collage together alternative personal geographies that we fully identify with to challenge this oversimplification. These “self cities” are not limited to geographic reality and existing labels, instead embracing fiction to reframe locational identity and incorporate a more nuanced definition of where someone is from.
For this workshop you will be working with your formative locations, which are places that have been instrumental in your personal development. Please bring with you physical photos associated with your formative locations that you are willing to cut up/collage (childhood home, former school, favourite museum, train station, etc.)
Please email any questions to hello@klarablazek.com
Klara Blazek is a graphic designer and researcher based in London. Her independent practice interrogates the tension between location and identity, questioning existing labels and creating communities of empathy. She advocates for self-investigation through design, specifically utilizing workshops as a research tool. This workshop is part of her ongoing project Self Cities, which challenges the oversimplification of locational identity through collage, mapmaking, and fictional narratives. Klara is currently the Senior Designer at Centre for London.
Uncomfortable Oxford
Uncomfortable Oxford are a student-led organisation dedicated to raising awareness about the 'uncomfortable' aspects of history. Through unique walking tours, they generate discussions about racial inequality, gender and class discrimination, and legacies of empire.
We are happy to say that we have access to a discount for The Original Uncomfortable Walking Tour and The History of Medicine Tour for the dates 9th, 10th and 11th September. If you book a (free) ticket for one of these events through this page we will send you a code that gets you a 15% discount. You can then use the code on the Uncomfortable Oxford site to book for the tour (dates & times below).
Uncomfortable Oxford also offer free instructions for guided scavenger hunts to do in your own time: https://www.uncomfortableoxford.co.uk/if-oxford-2020
● Uncomfortable Oxford: The History of Medicine Tour
Saturday 10th September, 14:00 – 15.45
Cost: £11.00 (with Livingmaps discount)
Description: Uncomfortable Oxford take a unique approach to the walking tour format - both fun and thoughtful, we encourage analysis and discussion. Both uncomfortable and fascinating, this History of Medicine Tour asks questions about the lasting impact of disease and the way in which imperialism, conflict, and inequality have helped shape the development of modern medicine.
Is the event accessible? This tour lasts for approximately 1 hr 45 mins. Please be aware that cobble stones and uneven pavement may restrict the accessibility of this event. Contact us at https://www.uncomfortableoxford.co.uk/contact-1 if you have any queries about accessibility
● The Original Uncomfortable Walking Tour
Friday 9th September, 16:00-17:30
Saturday 10th September, 11:00-12:30
Sunday 11th September, 13:00 – 14.30
Cost: £11.00 (with Livingmaps discount)
Description: The perfect introductory tour of Oxford, this discussion tour engages with the politics of memory in the city and university. It covers histories of empire, inequality, and race, class, and gender discrimination, highlighting how these legacies have an enduring impact on our modern lives.
Is the event accessible? We will walk no more than two miles, but please be aware that cobble stones and uneven pavements may restrict the accessibility of this event. Contact us at https://www.uncomfortableoxford.co.uk/contact-1 if you have any queries about accessibility
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2. IN YOUR OWN TIME & PLACE
● Groundbreakers – self guided trail of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park
Can be done in your own time.
Location: Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London
Google maps link: https://g.page/noordinarypark?share
Description: This new guide and trail tells the back story of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park site, from the Bronze age to the Digital Age and brings to life the fascinating history of the site of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. Over the years the site has contained a Roman bridge, a network of now lost waterways, an anti-aircraft gun emplacement, a sweet factory, a speedway and greyhound track whose popularity rivalled that of football in the 1950s, Prisoner of War camps, a civil defence nuclear training ground, an Iron Age village, gypsy encampments, allotments and social housing. The idea for the project began before the Park was constructed, and stemmed from a concern that the site was frequently represented as an ‘industrial wasteland’, when in actual fact it has a long and fascinating history (and natural history) with settlements, leisure spaces and workplaces of great significance.
There are a number of ways to explore this fascinating content:
• Follow the trail at the Olympic Park using your mobile phone to access the Augmented
Reality Trail using QR codes displayed on signs at nine points in the Park. The trail features
augmented reality 3D models, maps and documentary videos
• Explore the project’s story map online www.livingmaps.org/groundbreakers;
• Find out more about the history with PDF guidebook
Is the event accessible?
The Augmented Trail in the Olympic Park is fully accessible and the online content is freely available to everyone.
About Groundbreakers: Content for the Trail and Guide was written by a team including an archaeologist who excavated the site, an ethnographer who interviewed the tunnellers working on the Park site, a researcher who mapped, documented and interviewed over 60 businesses that were displaced by the development, a naturalist and local historians. Historic research for the project was undertaken by students at the University of East London and senior citizens, including the Building Exploratory’s Senior Bees group. The project was delivered by Living Maps Network, and funded by Heritage Lottery and the Foundation for Future London with the support of Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.
● Distance Drift: Home Map – Sonia Overall
Sunday 11th September | Location: your home & on Twitter | Start & Finish Times: 10:00 – 11:00 (or in your own time afterwards)
Description: You will need a Twitter account and mobile device to join this event. Distance Drift is a remote, participatory walking project. At the event start time, Sonia will post a walking score devised for Livingmaps on Twitter, which can be followed anywhere, indoors or out. Join in by following the hashtag #DistanceDrift to receive the score, walk in sync with others and post your responses live online to Twitter using the hashtags #DistanceDrift and #livingmapslive.
Distance Drift is fully accessible to everyone either out and about in your neighbourhood or at home.
● Diurnal Motion: Walking the Rise and Fall of the Sun – Blake Morris
Date: 9th, 10th, 11th September | Location: wherever you live | Start & Finish Times: Fifteen minutes before Sunrise and Sunset each day
Description: Diurnal motion is the name for the apparent movement of the stars in the sky. This walk will look to map that movement across the globe, through walking the rise and fall of the sun, creating a global Diurnal Motion mapping of the sunrise and sunset. Feel free to walk as many or as few of the sunrise/sets as you desire!.
1. Go for a walk fifteen minutes before sunrise.
2. Take a picture at sunrise.
3. Go for a walk fifteen minutes before sunset.
4. Take a picture at sunset.
Please send your photographs, location and a short note about your experience via e-mail to info@livingmaps.org.uk
OR If you share via social media, use @livingmaps the hashtags #diurnalmotion #livingmapslive.
● Pangea Nova at The Museum of Geography, Padua.
Our first international event at Living Maps Live!
Description: We are excited to be collaborating with the Museum of Geography, Padua that is hosting a Livingmaps Live event over our festival weekend. Visitors will be invited to take part in a collaborative mapping activity based on the Nova Pangea map – a beautiful re-imaging of a future world to come. The setting is a supercontinent created by the merging of tectonic plates; new regions are named after nine values towards which humanity is called to converge. The future, though, is neither written nor drawn yet: we will have to decide together which values are the most important. Creating the foundation of new cities, gradually starting from one that is still nameless, found at the centre of the map – left unassigned for you to choose the tenth value.
To take part, open and view the Nova Pangea Map (you can also or download and print off a copy). Add your value to the blank space, then let us know what you have chosen:
• Post a photograph of your map or just message the value you have chosen to Instagram @livingmapsnetwork #livingmapslive #novapangea
• Post on Twitter to @livingmaps #livingmapslive #novapangea
We will collate the results from the mapping in an article in the Autumn edition of Livingmaps Review 13.
Conception: Mauro Varotto, Giovanni Donadelli, Lorena Rocca, Chiara Gallanti.
Graphic design: Isacco Saccoman, 2019
● Sparks for Play – Joel Seath and Kelda Lyons
Can be done in your own time, anywhere you choose.
Children and accompanying adults are invited to go on a walking journey and use the ‘Sparks for Play’ below to inspire playful wayfinding. You could go on a walk that you normally do in your daily life, or you could go somewhere different! If you normally drive and don’t walk much, you can use these ‘sparks’ as inspiration for a new playful walk. These walks are free and you don’t need any special clothes. You may want to allow some extra time on your journey, as this will give you the chance to slow down, play, notice new things and explore.
For parents/carers
Read the ‘Sparks for Play’ below before you go on your walk. Let your children play with or without you. If you do join in with the play, let your child lead. You might feel comfortable with all the Invitations, you might not – that’s OK. The purpose of the Invitations is to give you the chance to notice your child’s play more than you might normally have time for. Choose the ‘Sparks for Play’ that you are comfortable with – when you go on your walk you can try them out. Don’t forget to also keep an eye on possible hazards, which your child may not see when they’re playing.
For parents/carers and children
Choose the walking journey you will go on. When you are out on your jour- ney, try out the ‘Sparks for Play’ that appeal to you. You could try one, two, or all of them! Take as long as you want on each one. If you have new ideas for play, try these out too. Children – it’s up to you to lead the play because it is YOUR play! If you want to, you can draw a map of your play. You could take photos of interesting objects that are played with, or places that are played in. Or you could do a sketch at home where you draw a picture or map of the play place. But please don’t photograph other people.
Sparks for Play
Walk on the other side of the road to the one you normally walk on. What can you see?
Take notice of the trees.
Where can you dance?
What are the most playful places on your journey?
Have a go at playing with some of these things on your journey: shadows, sunlight, wind, rain
The city is your drum-kit: can you find a way to play it?
Follow a line – straight, crooked, bendy, broken – this could be on a wall, paving patterns, lines around cobblestones.
What new things can you see?
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Please send any photos, text notes, thoughts, musings or meditations from the weekend to live@livingmaps.org.uk If you share anything via social media, use the hashtag #livingmapslive
Any queries can be sent to live@livingmaps.org.uk