walking practices laboratory 2027

These laboratory-format residencies invite artists, writers, and researchers from diverse disciplines to explore walking as an artistic and research methodology through an intensive process of collective work situated within the landscape of Montserrat.

The program proposes a sustained period of immersion in which walking is understood as a generative practice for perceiving, mapping, and narrating place through embodied experience. Over several weeks, participants will develop an ongoing process of research, exchange, and production, combining sensory exploration, ecological observation, site-responsive creation, and reflective practices.

The laboratory is structured as a trajectory that moves through storytelling, the body, processes of thought, ecological narratives, and food, culminating in a phase of synthesis and formalization of the work developed. This process unfolds through proposals involving group movement, writing, reading, sound, video, visual practices, and feedback sessions grounded in conversation.

The landscape of Montserrat functions as both terrain and collaborator: a living archive that is traversed, interpreted, and collectively reimagined through shared movement.

While Can Serrat and its collaborators propose a semi-structured framework, the laboratory is built through active participation, inviting participants to share methods, approaches, and working processes within a context of collective experimentation.

PROGRAM STRUCTURE

The program is organized into two main phases, each divided into three weeks focused on different themes, and is conceived as a progressive process combining autonomous units and a full trajectory.

Weeks 1 and 2 can be taken independently as intensive modules.

The full trajectory (weeks 1 to 3) allows for the development of a continuous process of research, exchange, and production, and constitutes the recommended form of participation.

Week 3 is conceived as a phase of synthesis and formalization and is not available as an independent module.

PROGRAM I — PALIMPSESTS (Weeks I–III)

Focus: storytelling, sensory relationship with the landscape, and the connection between movement and thought.

Week I (January 10–16) — Storytelling, mapping, and territory
Exploration of Montserrat as a stratified territory shaped by legends and historical and personal narratives.
Work with storytelling, mapping exercises, and collective reflection sessions using sound, video, and writing.
Sarah Goodchild Robb will lead a walk and propose exercises to connect with local legends and personal narratives.

Week II (January 18–23) — Climate, body, and sensory landscapes
A sensory approach to place, exploring how climate, atmosphere, and the body shape the perception of landscape.
A guest practitioner from the somatic field will guide a series of exercises to connect with the environment.

Week III (January 25–30) — Walking and thinking
Walking as a mode of thought. This phase focuses on the articulation between embodied experience and conceptual processes, oriented toward the formalization and development of individual or collective materials.
Sophie Blais will lead a session focused on thinking processes.

PROGRAM II — PHOTOSYNTHESIS (Weeks IV–VI)

Focus: ecological relations, transformation, local plants, food, and collective creation.

Week IV (February 1–6) — Ecological histories
Exploration of the ecological histories of Montserrat, considering the impact of tourism and climate change through botanical walks and material practices.
A local practitioner will guide a plant identification walk.

Week V (February 8–13) — Gathering, cultivating, and feeding the landscape
Engagement with the landscape through practices of foraging, cultivation, and cooking.
Work around food, composting, and ecological cycles, designing and preparing shared meals.
Dialogue with Can Serrat’s Gardening Project.

Week VI (February 15–20) — Synthesis and creation
A phase dedicated to integrating experiences and developing individual or collective outcomes.