The Walking Studio

Description

The Walking Studio: The Art of Urban Exploration is a joint outreach and experiential art and urban design workshop led by Dr Pamela Whitaker and Dr Golden in Belfast. The event employs art and urban design methodologies involving walking conversations and techniques with members of the public on a tour of Belfast's Cathedral Quarter cultural district.

The walk allows participants to explore art galleries and sites of urban art, aiming to imagine Belfast as a canvas for creative living and engage participants in mapping Quality of Life themes as part of their collective/individual journeys. The event includes critical observations and discussions about the inclusion, diversity and at-times appropriation of art in the built environment, and the impacts of art in the public realm on individual/collective wellbeing. Participants create portable artworks as part of their journey through activities curated in public spaces.

The event is part of the Festival of Social Sciences in NI 2022, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). It is a collaboration between the Dr Whitaker, Lecturer in Art Psychotherapy in the Belfast School of Art and Dr Golden of the Belfast School of Architecture and the Built Environment at Ulster University inspired by Dr Golden's AHRC funded Community Consultation for Quality of Life research with University of Reading, on which Dr Golden is Project Lead for Your City Your Voice, an urban mapping and outreach project in partnership with Belfast City Council, the Quality of Life Foundation (UK), Urban Symbiotics, and Commonplace.

The ESRC Festival of Social Science is an annual celebration of research and knowledge about humans and society and celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2022, providing a platform to explore topics relating to social science – from health and wellbeing to crime, equality, education and identity.

Period	5 Nov 2022
Event type	Other
Location	Belfast, Northern IrelandShow on map
Degree of Recognition	National