Walking Silvermines is public art project by Fiona Wood which uses psychogeographical processes and theory to underpin the conept. It takes the form of a heritage walk in the rural village of Silvermines. Phsychogeography focuses more on urban areas; “cities are formed of fluid layers of history and memory, traces of which, psychogeographers believe, may be discerned in their geography and architecture”. However this project suggests that the practice of rural psychogeography can be very productive. The project is a result of the local desire to present the heritage of this location and develop a tourist industry. The final outcome was a guidebook which interweaves the geography and history, showing the journey the village has taken and how it has been shaped by commerse and industry. Within the guidebook, signs and texts are contrasted. Wood uses two sets of images for the front and reverse of the sign, whereby the front reflects the history and mythology of the location it sits within, and the back presents an alternative view or links said location to another location somewhere else in the world. Wood began the project determined to work with whatever she encountered, which is clearly a psychogeographical process. Exiting understandings alongside research within the community creates an enriched study of the village, presenting the narrative of the locals perspectives. The guidebook is free to download as a PDF from the website, and the artist has given permission for anyone to print and sell the piece. This was done to increase the availability of the guidebook and encourage discussions in the community between locals and tourists.
I find this project really interesting because it takes abstract psychogeographic processes and grounds them in the context of heritage and community, and all within a rural location, as opposed to an urban location.
