forced walks now live!
item provided by Lorna Brunstein and Richard White:
Tuesday 27 January was Holocaust Memorial Day, the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz by the Red Army. As part of the events we launched Forced Walks: Honouring Esther, a walking arts project. We presented the project concept at 44AD Gallery, Bath, where we will be exhibiting documentation from the walk and new work produced in response to it. Although we are still desperately short of cash, the project is now live:
https://forcedwalks.wordpress.com/
Over the coming two months the project will develop, generating and connecting local human rights resonances. We are especially keen to hear from veterans of the soldiers who liberated the death camp at Belsen and their descendants, as well as local historians, migrants and exiles interested in this walking witness and creative exploration of exile and belonging.
We walk on April 14 and 15 arriving at the Old Jewish Burial Ground, Coombe Down, Bath, on the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Belsen by the British Army. We will walk on rights of way as close as possible to the transposed line and conduct interventions where our walk intersects that line. We plan for an intimate participatory and performative walk gathering sounds and images, pausing to reflect and share with the world. We will use smart devices and social networking as well as talk and bits of paper! If this is successful we plan to repeat the walk on its 71st anniversary, in early February on the actual route in Germany.
In order to deliver the project as we imagine it we need drivers and stewards and non walkers to support us on the day, as well as social network users who can actively spread the words and images we will generate. If you would be interested in supporting this project in any way please express your interest on the blog site here, there is a contact form at the bottom of the home page:
https://forcedwalks.wordpress.com/
If you would like to physically join the walk, numbers are strictly limited, so you will need to formally register by following this link:
