Landscape Encounters is a workshop for all ages, which explores how our bodies interact with landscapes through moving, sensing and making. It uses crafting as an approach to get closer to the plants and animals we share our environment with, encouraging empathy with other species and so a more sustainable relationship with our planet.

The event will comprise 2 half-day workshops – one for younger children accompanied by an adult, the second for young people and adults. Participants will work together to explore the different life-forms that make up the eco-system of the gardens, and then make sculptural objects they can wear to help them experience the park as if they were a plant, bird, insect, etc.

Workshop 1: 5–10 year olds with accompanying adults.

Workshop 2: Young people 11+ to adults.

During each 3-hour workshop, we will collectively explore the relations between ourselves and the things that live in the gardens, and how our experience of the space differs from other species. The atmosphere will be calm – we will encourage participants to slow down, notice their surroundings and discuss how being in the park makes them feel and act. These feelings might be very different, and we aim to create an inclusive environment where we can acknowledge those differences and think about how to share the space with care, building a sense of community with each other and with the more-than-human world.

The pavilion will be used as a permeable space that is connected with the surrounding gardens. We will take participants through guided walking and drawing activities. Moving-through and observing the details of this urban green space, we will work together to imagine the life-worlds of the plants and animals we encounter in the gardens – How do the flowers respond to changes in the weather? What are the woodlice doing under stones? How does it feel to be a squirrel climbing a tree, a duck swimming in the moat or a bird flying through the sky?

Then, we will use a selection of simple materials (cardboard, fabric, cord, wire, wadding, etc., and other materials like sticks and leaves found in the gardens) to make bodily attachments – improvised sculptures we can wear to change how we sense, move through and interact with our surroundings. In this way, simple crafting methods will enable us to explore the gardens using different versions of our bodies so we can imagine how other species experience the space through all our senses.

All crafting materials will be natural/biodegradable to ensure we don’t negatively impact the green space we are exploring. Participants will be able to keep the sculptural objects they have made and will hopefully come away feeling a sense of connection with and care for the environment.