a rest, a view
a long, deep breath
and the salt line of our memories
~ Wyche Cutting Tryptich
What does ‘place’ mean to us, and how do we capture it creatively? This series of poetry films explores locations across the West Midlands (UK) you might ordinarily pass through – as a rambler, a visitor, or en route to elsewhere – and experiments with what happens when you take time to pause. Developed through a process of practice-led research, the films plot a course around the region as 2D and 360° immersive screenings. The works demonstrate how taking time to stop and engage with a location can help to deepen our sense of place.
All films were piloted on National Poetry Day 2023 as part of the Birmingham Literature Festival. Films were shown at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, as curtain raiser screenings before literary events, and on a pop-up screen in the foyer of the National Library of Birmingham. Immersive presentations were available to view in a Pop-Up Poetry Pod with VR headset and made available online as a virtual gallery (below).
The collection forms part of the PhD research project ‘Place-Based Poetry Film and the Literature Festival’, delivered by Rebecca Goldsmith at Keele University in partnership with Writing West Midlands. The project is supported by the North West Consortium Doctoral Training Partnership (part of the Arts and Humanities Research Council) with additional supervision from the Centre for Place Writing at Manchester Metropolitan University.
VIRTUAL GALLERY
Click to accept cookies below, and explore the entire PAUSE collection in a virtual exhibition space.
If you experience difficulties accessing the gallery, films can be viewed on the Blog & Film Map – link below.
BLOG & FILM MAP
Find out more about the project, view the film locations, and watch each film individually on Vimeo
