Wrights & Sites
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Wrights & Sites is a group of British artists who work with site-specific performance[1][2] and walking art.[3] Founded in 1997, Wrights & Sites consists of artist researchers Stephen Hodge, Simon Persighetti, Phil Smith and Cathy Turner.[4] Their work is inspired by the Letterist and Situationist Internationals, particularly the practice of dérive.[5][6][7]
in 1998, Wrights & Sites produced a three-week site specific festival, The Quay Thing (1998) that resulted in six new performance works, as well as a variety of smaller performances throughout the site.[8] Professor Deirdre Heddon has identified this as her introduction to site-specific performance, and an influence on her future work.[9] Subsequently, the group began to explore walking as their primary mode of artistic exploration. Phil Smith has noted, Wrights & Sites walking 'began as an anti-theatrical act' and 'the site-based performances of Wrights & Sites revealed places to be as performed as the performances in them.'[10]
Wrights & Sites walking practices are best known through their 'Misguides', a series of texts they published with contributions from Tony Weaver. The 'Misguides' provide instructions to make familiar places unfamiliar and inspire the reader to playfully subvert the city through walking.[4]