third (creative) spaces

I have always been fascinated by places like railway stations, hotel rooms, bars and cafés, airport lounges, onboard a long-haul flight, looking out of the window. Some of them anyway. Neither here nor there. Interstitial. Liminal. Transitional. Conduit. They can offer permission to step to the side, think, imagine, to interrogate complacency. They are the…

Flodden Field

Today is the 500th anniversary of Flodden Field – the battle near the village of Branxton in Northumberland, just south of the Scottish border. Here is what I wrote about the site on a visit back in 2007 [Link] In the tracks of northern antiquaries, summer 2007 September 9 1513: in the low rolling hills…

Autosuggestion – rough cuts

Mike and I have edited the script of last week’s presentation of Autosuggestion – our new work of Theatre/Archaeology. Autosuggestion – the script There’s still some fact checking to do – mainly on the details of car history (and any suggestions will be very welcome – use the comment form at the end of the…

Pearson|Shanks – Autosuggestion

Mike Pearson and I have a new work of theatre/archaeology, to be premiered next week – Friday 28 June. Here’s how we describe it: Just what is an automobile? In this new work of theatre/archaeology — the rearticulation of fragments of the past as real-time event — Mike Pearson and Michael Shanks reflect on an…