Introduction

The programme for the 2019 Cornwall Workshop was devised and led by the artist Andy Holden and offered a space in which to explore a range of ideas suggested by his interests and work. Starting with works included in The Long Revolution, a curated project at Holden’s studio space in Bedford, looking at walking and observation as methods of gently affecting change, the workshop focused especially on conversations around the effects of technology on our understanding of nature. 

A selection of writings, films and musical works framed the week-long programme, which included seminars and reading groups exploring texts such as Timothy Morton’s Hyperobjects, Mark Fisher’s The Weird and the Eerie, and Daisy Hildyard’s The Second Body, and discussing subjects such as ‘Kant after the Internet’. 

Ornithologist Peter Holden, with whom Andy Holden collaborated on the Artangel exhibition project Natural Selection, came for the first weekend, leading a walk and collaborating with Andy to give a lecture on bird song. Composer and artist Mira Calix joined later, to lead a project exploring field recording and sound composition, culminating in the production of experimental sound work, made collaboratively by the workshop participants.  

The workshop included a public lecture by Andy Holden at Falmouth School of Art, informal talks and a listening seminar at CAST, as well as daily walks and expeditions and many late-night screening sessions.