Wrights & Sites is a group of British artists who work with
site-specific performance[1][2] and walking art.[3] Founded in 1997, Wrights & Sites consists of artist researchers Stephen Hodge, Simon Persighetti, Phil Smith and
Cathy Turner.[4] Their work is inspired by the
Letterist and
Situationist Internationals, particularly the practice of
dérive.[5][6][7]
in 1998, Wrights & Sites produced a three-week site specific festival, The Quay Thing (1998) that resulted in six new performance works, as well as a variety of smaller performances throughout the site.[8] Professor
Deirdre Heddon has identified this as her introduction to site-specific performance, and an influence on her future work.[9] Subsequently, the group began to explore walking as their primary mode of artistic exploration. Phil Smith has noted, Wrights & Sites walking 'began as an anti-theatrical act' and 'the site-based performances of Wrights & Sites revealed places to be as performed as the performances in them.'[10]
Wrights & Sites walking practices are best known through their 'Misguides', a series of texts they published with contributions from Tony Weaver. The 'Misguides' provide instructions to make familiar places unfamiliar and inspire the reader to playfully subvert the city through walking.[4]
Selected works and exhibitions
4 Screens #4: Possible Forests (2007), Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World, Haldon Forest Park
4 Screens #2: A Mis-Guide To Anywhere (2006) Gallery of Utopias, for PSi#12 Performing Rights, London
tEXt & the city (2002) Exeter Picture House
Mis-Guided To Anywhere (2004) Urbis, Manchester
An Exeter Mis-Guide (2004) Exeter Central Library
An Exeter Mis-Guide (2003) Exeter Phoenix
A Courtauld Mis-Guide (2003-5) Courtauld Institute, London
An Exeter Mis-Guide (concept pages) (2003) Exeter Picture House
Selected publications
Stephen Hodge & Daniel Belasco Rogers (2007) 'What is a theatre? Where is it and how do you get there?', in Performance Research, 12.2(June).
Phil Smith (2007) 'From Theatre To Dispersal: A Journey From Stalowa Wola To Mobile Machinoeki', in Performance Research, 12.2 (June).
Wrights & Sites (2006) ''A Manifesto for a New Walking Culture: 'dealing with the city'', in Performance Research, 11.2 (June).
Cathy Turner (2004) 'Palimpsest or Potential Space? Finding a Vocabulary for Site-Specific Performance' New Theatre Quarterly, XX.4(No. 80) (November).
Wrights & Sites (2000) 'SITE-SPECIFIC: The Quay Thing Documented', in Studies in Theatre and Performance, Supplement 5.
^Wilkie, Fiona (2002-05-01). "Mapping the Terrain: a Survey of Site-Specific Performance in Britain". New Theatre Quarterly. 18 (2): 140–160.
doi:
10.1017/S0266464X02000234.
ISSN1474-0613.
^Smith, Phil (2010-01-01). "The contemporary dérive: a partial review of issues concerning the contemporary practice of psychogeography". Cultural Geographies. 17 (1): 103–122.
doi:
10.1177/1474474009350002.
ISSN1474-4740.
S2CID55861501.
^Hancox, Simone (2012-05-01). "Contemporary Walking Practices and the Situationist International: The Politics of Perambulating the Boundaries Between Art and Life". Contemporary Theatre Review. 22 (2): 237–250.
doi:
10.1080/10486801.2012.666737.
ISSN1048-6801.
S2CID143171873.