‘Wilding the Edges is an interactive walking tour of Wimbledon’s unexamined places: a journey through spaces which straddle both city and countryside and where “wild” and cultivated” environments overlap. Participants will be invited to reflect upon the social and political implications of these hybridized spaces and explore how we might respond to them as artists. The tour concludes with a Barcamp discussion in a local pub.’
The event began with a meeting in the main foyer of the Wimbledon UAL building where there was growing sense of tension and excitement.
We were then split into several groups and my group was with Lucy Orta from Studio ORTA. We were then asked to think about areas we were drawn to on the walk and invited to open discussions with others around the new spaces along the way.
Lucy also encouraged the group to research and make inquiries into any areas we felt could be interesting to create a ‘Spirit of Wimbledon’ which is to be a group exhibition on our thoughts around this topic. I really like the idea of coming up with characters that somehow link to the history/ feel of the area. There was a particularly lovely alley way which had many overgrown branches with lots of nests in them. So I am thinking around this area.
The walk then went on to a local pub in which we sat in groups and raised questions about what could link to the idea of walking, spirits, Wimbledon history, and the community.