Fermynwoods Podcast 24 – Subterra

This episode of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast features a fragmentary and poetic discussion between Beccy Mccray and Jason Singh, facilitated by Marie-Chantal Hamrock, which melts together into a rich audio tapestry. Beccy tells us about Intuition Maps – a co-created artwork set in the woodland of Irchester Country Park that leads visitors on a journey through the landscape prompting us to reflect on animal instincts in the context of climate change adaptation. Jason shares insight into his I Bring my Body to This Place to Observe the Coming and Going of Life – a sound installation in Titchmarsh Nature Reserve during the summer of 2016 which explored themes of home, separation and migration for both people and wildlife. Through the lens of one another’s work, themes emerge reflecting on nature, movement and our place in the world. More at: https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-27-beccy-mccray-jason-singh/ The accompanying visual is a video response to the episode, by artist Sapphire Goss.

This episode of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast with David John Scarborough presents a new work, Dead Wood Burning - a musical tapestry grounded in the idea of Ubi Sunt - a rhetorical question asking where are those that have gone before us. Deftly weaving together samples of music from Pete Seeger's anti-war song 'Where have all the flowers gone?' to moments of David's own music - this is a poetic exploration of ecological breakdown, the long lasting effects of folk tradition, and personal experiences of community, family, and fatherhood. The episode concludes with an insightful discussion with the artist. With thanks to Dean Howard and Tilly Robinson. More at: https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-26-david-john-scarborough The accompanying visual is a video response to the episode, by artist Sapphire Goss.

The first episode of our Love + Light season of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast presents Of Immeasurable Consequence by Pale Blue Dot Collective. Pale Blue Dot Collective (artists Louise Beer and John Hooper) spent four months in residence with Fermynwoods to create Of Immeasurable Consequence - originally an immersive photographic and sound based installation installed in All Saint Church, Aldwincle, from 24th March to 7th April 2024. In this version of Of Immeasurable Consequence, which has been adapted to include parts of recorded conversation, Pale Blue Dot Collective examine our place within the universe, framing the impact of the climate emergency through the eyes of evolution and the immense time period it has taken for each form of life to arrive at this point. More at: ⁠⁠https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-p... The accompanying visual is a video response to the episode, by artist Sapphire Goss

The final episode of the Xylophobia season presents a radio play written by our podcast guest curators, SUBTERRA: Marie-Chantal Hamrock and Astrid Björklund. Told through the voice of the Narrator, we are presented with an eccentric cast of characters living and contending with an ever diminished and hostile landscape, made up of old mines, towering blast furnaces, an inexplicable blackness which seems to spread insidiously, and a strange red substance that emanates from the earth. Among the characters are an unnamed man who searches in desperation for 'that place' using an old ironstone amulet; Niko and Launo are two hardened characters who seem to have strayed from their community and traverse this landscape alone, speaking wistfully of old times; The Withered Arm is a disembodied human arm working as a barmaid in the Inn of Ill Omens with its ever decreasing customers sadly sipping from their worthy pints; The Strange Man seems to know something sinister no one else does and plays cruel tricks on those around him. And finally, the Fermyn is an ethereal character who cannot be described in words and has no discernible form but somehow seems to know more than anyone else about the nature of this dark world. … All the while the narrator begins to lose her grip on reality and starts to question her very own existence. Please note: This episode is binaural/atmospheric recording best listened to with headphones. More at: ⁠⁠https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-24-subterra The accompanying visual is a video response to the episode, by artist Sapphire Goss

This episode of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast presents a new work, O' God of Weather by Saoirse Horne. O’ God of Weather combines elements of ambient music, folk song, and field recording, which together paint a vivid and imaginative world, rooted in messages of phantasm and fabrication. Somehow, through a painterly appreciation of texture, patience and solitude, the artist manages to create a sensitive and ethereal act of balladry – O’ God of Weather considers how deeply weather affects our lives - and how it can impede our access to woodland spaces. The work has a visionary awareness of multiple temporalities, giving the listener glimpses into the lived experience of the artist, while also offering interpolated fictions and folklores that lead to imaginative world building. Painting through wave, tone, harmony and storytelling, Saoirse’s work feels both permanent and ephemeral in its reverence for an invisible, yet powerful deity. This work might make one feel as though through the simple act of listening they are part of some sacred incantation, invoking the almighty God of Weather. More at: ⁠https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-23-saoirse-horne The accompanying visual is a video response to the episode, by artist Sapphire Goss

This episode of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast with artist Tosca Terán draws from fungal mycelial communication research to create a soundscape which the artist herself describes as ‘perhaps a bit ominous with a dash of science fiction’. Working with the bio-electrical activity of living mycelium, in Forest UnderSound = Ways of Knowing, Tosca reveals the ethereal fungi frequencies of the oyster mushroom, pleurotus ostreatus. Threading control voltages throughout what Tosca affectionately refers to as a 'Myco-Synth' the mushroom becomes a conduit for pulsating waves, coursing through intricate patch cables to construct a mesmerizing drone. Thanks to Spencer Graham for providing the field recording from Fermyn Woods that was interpolated into this work. More at: https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-22-tosca-teran The accompanying visual is a video response to the episode, by artist Sapphire Goss.

This episode of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast features a rich and profound work by A Ton of Worms - a multidisciplinary artist and writer whose primary focus is an immersive communing with Taxus Baccata (the English yew), through both classic art forms as well as field recording, whittling, fermentation, and propagation. Their work also addresses the conservation of persecuted wildlife and plants, the maligned and misrepresented (often chthonic) species overlooked by many, and the beauty and effulgence of decay at the intersection of nature and civilisation.Wood as Home, Dirt as Time is the audio recording of a performance piece undertaken on the Summer Solstice of 2023 and edited retrospectively into sound collage. It explores themes of time, space, nature, and human connection through the chthonic lens of an ancient yew tree - conjuring the imagined state of consciousness of a being that lives and perceives in centuries rather than years. More at: https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-21-a-ton-of-worms The accompanying visual is a video response to the episode, by artist Sapphire Goss.

This video is a response by artist Sapphire Goss to Episode 20 of the Fermynwoods Podcast which features a discussion with artist Spencer Graham, whilst utilising the Music and Talk feature on Spotify, which allows for tracks to be integrated into the conversation.Spencer Graham is an artist based in Northamptonshire, UK. His practice revolves around a deep interest in music, and questions ideas relating to materiality and place. Utilising and sharing very specific collections of music, acquired according to self-set constraints, he considers how we access, consume, use, and most importantly, listen to music.Spencer's deep interest in music and the everyday has led him to work with records, CDs, cassettes and MP3s as his primary media for the last ten years. In this episode Spencer discusses circular narratives, his Xylophobia / Shinrin-yoku audio mixes produced for our Xylophobia: Online exhibition, forest themed tracks that didn't make it into those mixes, and his own fields recordings from Fermyn Woods.More at: https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-20-spencer-graham

This episode of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast features the work of Maja Zećo. In September 2022, Maja negotiated Hazel and Thoroughsale Woods from Corby town centre, Northamptonshire, as Silencer. Silencer is a performance in a sensory impairment soundwalking suit complete with earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones. Where Maja experienced the environment in complete silence the suit made ‘the other’ visible in public while concealing gender, body shape and voice. At once both a playful intervention and an unexpected encounter, the work has connotations of protective clothing and social distancing that speak to larger fears of walking through woodland spaces. At the heart of this work are two very important questions: “Who is listening?” and “Who is performing?” Listeners are advised to listen with headphones as this is a binaural mix. The following episode features themes that might be triggering for some listeners and contains strong language which may be unsuitable or offensive. More at: https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-19-maja-zeco This episode has been edited by Astrid Björklund, the other half of SUBTERRA. The accompanying visual is a video response to the episode, by artist Sapphire Goss.

For this episode of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast artists Danny Treacy and Johannes Zits from our Treewilder exhibition at Barnwell Country Park, share a drink and conversation with Marie-Chantal Hamrock, one half of our podcast curators SUBTERRA.  With both artists work speaking to and of the trees, it has been suggested that Danny might represent the dark, whilst Johannes the light. However through the following conversation, both artists reveal how such binary oppositions might in fact not be the case and the works coalesce and converge - meeting at what is perhaps the most intriguing uniting theme: joy. More at: https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-18-danny-treacy-johannes-zits/ This episode has been edited by Astrid Björklund, the other half of SUBTERRA. The accompanying visual is a video response to the episode, by artist Sapphire Goss.