Robert Pacitti

Ramble (2017) by the Rough Band and Phil Smith. Photo by Jason Kofi-Haye. — *Ramble* (2017) by the Rough Band and Phil Smith. Photo by Jason Kofi-Haye.

RAMBLE
(2017)

Rough Band • Death Walk • Phil Smith • Observance

Ramble was a salon conversation and a silent walk, both made with special guest Dr. Phil Smith. Based in the south-west of England, Phil is a performance-maker, writer and academic researcher, specialising in work around walking, site-specificity, mythogeographies, web-walking, somatics and counter-tourism.

PART 1
- RE-WALKING: REPETITION + REPAIR
- Thursday evening, October 5th
A conversation between the Rough Band and Phil Smith considered reflective walking around the themes of doubleness, re-telling, tracing and re-tracing. The Rough Band discussed their practices of solo and joint observational walking, making personal connections with the local landscape, the physical body and states of mind. Phil drew on work where he re-walks the walks of others, walks in relation to characters, walks with imaginary partners, or walks with fictional narratives. Audience members were invited to make clay models before joining an open conversation that further explored the themes and ideas of the evening.

PART 2
A SILENT WALK
Friday morning, October 6th
The following day Phil Smith, the Rough Band and members of the public headed out for a silent walk together, around Ipswich and within. Foraging for doppelgängers and hoping to make new imaginary friends along the way - an alchemical walk somewhere in-between a physical and a metaphysical world, that liminal space between a real and an unreal ramble.