PRESS RELEASE
Walking to Dartington
To mark the ending of Dartington College of Arts in Devon, two of its artist graduates are walking 222 miles in 21 days from London back to their old campus. Along the way they will be joined by others wishing to share and record their memories of the college, which has been fundamental in championing innovative arts practices for over 40 years.
Donna Shilling and Timothy Vize-Martin have worked in a variety of artistic fields, including performance, theatre, film, and installation – but their most recent project sees them exchanging stage and gallery for the dusty paths and green fields of the South of England. Over a three-week period, the pair are walking the 222 miles from London to Devon, cameras in hand, to celebrate the legacy of Dartington College.
And the two are following an interesting precedent. As Donna explains, she’s retracing her own footsteps. “In 2001, I was a final-year student at Dartington, and, in the wake of 9/11, I undertook a project in which I walked from the college back home to London. Along the way, I asked the people I encountered: What is important to you?”
Now, seven years later, as the college prepares to leave its home in Devon, Tim and Donna will be repeating that remarkable journey and asking: What is important about Dartington College of Arts?
In what has been a highly controversial decision, Dartington College of Arts is to close. In April this year it officially merged with Cornwall’s University College Falmouth, and will be effectively transplanted there in 2010. The small yet remarkably influential institution, which is set in the quiet surroundings of the Dartington estate, has been unique in encouraging generations of artists worldwide to challenge art forms and redefine the role of art in society.
But, as Tim is keen to stress, the project is not a demonstration. “This walk is not to protest the decision, which has already been made. It’s a way of physically acknowledging this ending; a gesture of farewell to a unique arts institution, a place that has been very significant in our lives and dear to our hearts.”
En route, he and Donna will be joined by others keen to celebrate and commemorate Dartington. Students and staff, both past and present, will walk and talk, sharing their perceptions, memories and associations with the two artists, who will collate the material for a documentary about the college, to be produced next year.
Among those participating are Alan Read, Gregg Whelan & Gary Winters (Lone Twin), Dan Gretton & James Mariott (Platform), Emilyn Claid, David Williams, Peter Kiddle, Sue Palmer, John Hall, Simon Persighetti, Misha Myers, Josie Sutcliffe, Simon Murray, Joe Richards, Alan Bolden, Tracey Warr, Jerome Fletcher, and members of Propeller and Deer Park (of which Donna was herself a founding member).
Tim and Donna have timed their arrival at Dartington to coincide with the opening of this year's MA Festival on the 25th September. (Tim is a graduating Arts and Ecology Student). And on the final afternoon of their walk to the college, they will be met by many other invited guests, who will walk the last stretch with them and together silently bid farewell to Dartington.
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The walk concluded on Thursday 25th Sept with a silent group walk from Totnes and through the college campus. We had arranged a group of people to walk the final stretch, from Borough Park in Totnes. The walkers came through the park to meet us, and when they got there we clapped their arrival. Then a silence of a few seconds, then hugs and congratulations. Tim read out 222 key words (one for every mile) that noted the places, the people and the news events of their three weeks' walking. Donna spoke about the walk, how it corresponded to the walk she had undertaken from Dartington to London seven years ago, in the wake of September 11th 2001, an exact reversal of this walk. We walked as a group in silence to the college and around the campus. We arrived at the gravel court. Tim and Donna placed their maps and items from their backpacks on two tables. David Williams welcomed and thanked them, spoke of the college, of teaching, of community and change. Simon Persighetti had made Devon cream teas and we had conversations, ate and drank.
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