Stephen Hodge

Research through practice

Possible Cities

The research impetus for this practice-as-research project lies in Wrights & Sites' increasing number of conversations with city architects and planners, including Jan Gehl, the Danish architect and academic whose practice is centred on 'life between buildings'.

'Rethinking The City' is a series of provocations, aimed at rethinking/replanning the 21st Century City through performance-related walking practices, papers and presentations. It comprises:

Except where stated, this practice-as-research project is co-authored with other members of Wrights & Sites (Simon Persighetti, Phil Smith and Dr Catherine Turner).

Possible Forests

'Possible Forests' is a body of practice-as-research aimed at transferring Wrights & Sites' practices of urban exploration, surrealistic derambulation, mis-guidance and spatial planning from the city to the trees.

Working in partnership with the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World (in Haldon Forest Park, which the Forestry Commission is in the process of replanning), the project comprises a number of interlinked elements:

  • 'Forest Drift', a day-long, public, exploratory drift within the bounds of the forest, exploring the Forestry Commission's new walkways, overgrown tracks and desire paths (September 2006)
  • a series of documented reconnaissance drifts/dialogues (discussing ways of experiencing, re-imagining and planning the forest landscape) with specialists in eight different fields, including architecture, Jungian psychology, choreography and computer software design - each drift followed by a session in which the specialist and Wrights & Sites construct new plans for the forest (Spring & Summer 2007)
  • a split-screen DVD video documentation of a simultaneous drift in the forest by the four core members of Wrights & Sites (Summer 2007)
  • a public exhibition of maps, texts and video at the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World's forest base (September 2007)
  • a day-long symposium and practical workshop, bringing together Wrights & Sites, the partner specialists and the public (September 2007)
  • DVD-ROM documentation of the constituent elements, constructed by Stephen Hodge working in consultation with Peter Hulton of the Arts Documentation Unit (Autumn 2007)

Except where stated, this practice-as-research project is co-authored with other members of Wrights & Sites (Simon Persighetti, Phil Smith and Dr Catherine Turner).

An Exeter Mis-Guide

96 pages, ISBN-13: 9780954613006, September 2003

This practice-as-research publication is the result of three years of disrupted walking by Wrights & Sites, using the city of Exeter as their laboratory. Through extended drifts, alone and with invited individuals/groups, at different times of day/year, the research process aimed to:

  • playfully explore/challenge existing spatial models generated by municipal organisations, the heritage and tourism industries, different academic/artistic discourses, etc.
  • generate a series of frameworks for activities in specific sites and landscapes within the city of Exeter, allowing the writer and walker to become partners in ascribing significance to place

It was equally co-authored with other members of Wrights & Sites (Simon Persighetti, Phil Smith and Dr Catherine Turner). It was funded by the Local Heritage Initiative (£8,338), Arts Council England (£4,000) and Exeter Arts Council (£400).

Directly associated research-based outcomes include:

  • a co-authored commission by the Courtauld Institute of Art , London for the two-year exhibition of international artists, 'East Wing Collection 06 (Urban Networks)', 2003-5: the work comprised four mapped walks (1 by each author) - [ view page 1 ] - [ view page 2 ]
  • a contribution to The Lonely Planet Guide to Experimental Travel, 2005 (one of Stephen's walks from 'An Exeter Mis-Guide' was case-studied as one of forty examples of experimental travel)
  • 'On An Exeter Mis-Guide', a solo paper by Stephen for the 'Live Art Symposium', Newlyn Art Gallery (September 2003)

'An Exeter Mis-Guide' has been taught in a number of university theatre/drama departments (including Roehampton, Lancaster & Glasgow). Its focus on spatial practices means that it is also taught across disciplines, for example, in the departments of Geography at the University of Durham, Sociology at Manchester Metropolitan University, Art History at Shanghai University (China) and Cinema & Media at Carleton College (Minnesota, USA).

On-line links:

A Mis-Guide To Anywhere

120 pages, ISBN-13: 9780954613013, April 2006

The research impetus for this practice-as-research publication was the interest in An Exeter Mis-Guide beyond the bounds of the city of Exeter. The research imperatives were to:

  • find ways to adapt the site-specific practices of An Exeter Mis-Guide for generic application (to explore connections and differences between local and global, personal and communal, here and elsewhere/anywhere)
  • consolidate long-term research (walking experiments funded by the Centre for Creative Enterprise & Participation in Manchester, Milton Keynes, Copenhagen, Paris, New York, Zambia, and other locations around the world)
  • produce a tool in the form of a book that could stimulate further activities/collaborations between Wrights & Sites and partners in other locations

It was equally co-authored with other members of Wrights & Sites (Simon Persighetti, Phil Smith and Dr Catherine Turner). It was funded by Arts Council England (£18,000) and the Centre for Creative Enterprise & Participation (£10,000), and launched at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London.

Directly associated research-based outcomes:

 As with An Exeter Mis-Guide, the book has been used to teach across a range of disciplines, from Performance Studies at Tisch School of Arts (New York University) to Design Studies at the University of Otago (New Zealand) and Geography at the University of Manchester.

On-line links: