Port-to-Port, Alisa Oleva
A series of public art events inspired by walking, in real-time and online, across September and October.
Port-to-Port is rooted in contributions by those living in Felixstowe. Alisa was selected by a panel made up of residents and the development of the work included an array of contributions.
As a starting point for discussion, Alisa invited people to share places that inspire them day-to-day or hold particularly special memories. Responses described the sounds, sights, and feelings they conjure and why they were meaningful. A newly imagined map formed of personal landmarks was created that began to shape Alisa’s thinking and process.
Inspired by the internationalism and dynamism of Felixstowe embodied in the port, each of the locations collected locally was sent to someone living in a different port town with an invitation to respond. Alisa set in motion a signal for action, sparking a relay of transmitted memories and forming a web of connections between people living near and far. There were 25 exchanges across all corners of the globe, with many of these featuring within the walks through sound.
The postcards and audio are symbolic of these two locations ‘meeting’. The photographs of the paired towns are overlaid, creating a visual hybrid of these places. Whilst the contributors are unlikely to meet face-to-face, they have felt the presence of another person’s life elsewhere. Similarly, the audio is formed of mirrored recordings, with resident voices describing the memories and places beyond Felixstowe.
Port-to-Port comprised;
- A deep-listening workshop
- Two artist-led walks
- A printed edition featuring a set of postcards
- Slow Salon, an online discussion
- A live broadcast of an audio walk featuring collected sound material and recordings sent direct and on request by the artist
-A commissioned text by artist and researcher Gudrun Filipska, ‘Port to Port: Making Connections Near and Far. Transmissions of Care and Collectivity across Liquid Boundaries.’
In March 2022, aspects of Port-to-Port toured to Canada, opening as an exhibition at Ontario College of Art & Design University (OCAD) Canada's largest and oldest educational institution for art and design.
We are grateful to all those who made this possible. Special thanks to Pam Patterson (assistant Prof.TIS, Cross-Disciplinary Art/Faculty of Art OCAD University.
A review by Ella Taylor in Canadian Society for Education Through Art can be read here. Head to page 93.
You can register for the broadcast here: https://forms.gle/3dyap9afUiyUuDUS9
You can access the artist edition using the button below.
Port-to-Port was made possible by the following contributors;
Sound Artist: Olesia Onykiienko (also known as NFNR)
Postcards Design: Uliana Bychenkova
Commissioned Text: Gudrun Filipska
Technical Support (Broadcast): Timothy Maxymenko
Slow Salon Contributors: Diana Berg, Natalie Pace, Maria Sarycheva
Catalina Carvajal, Felixstowe, UK - Hannah Reeves, Ipswich, UK
Annie Watson, Felixstowe, UK - Pam Patterson, Picton, Canada
Gill Bellenie, Felixstowe, UK - Duncan Stuart, Gothenburg, Sweden
Natalie Pace, Felixstowe, UK - Greg Giannis, Reservoir, Victoria, Australia
Chris Smithers, Felixstowe, UK - Daniel Payne, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Dawn Pretty, Felixstowe, UK - Natalka Revko, Odessa, Ukraine
Amanda Bowden, Felixstowe, UK - Vira, Mariupol, Ukraine
Laura Locke, Felixstowe, UK - Ekaterina Tokareva, Auckland, New Zealand
Alli Burke, Felixstowe, UK - Katerina Verba, Novorossiysk, Russia
Caroline Corker, Felixstowe, UK - Eliza Soroga, Diakofti, Kythira island, Greece
Kate, Felixstowe, UK - Jennifer Hattam, Istanbul, Turkey
Rosa, Felixstowe, UK - Slava Redov, Murmansk, Russia
Donna Duncan, Felixstowe, UK - Daryna Kyrychenko, Singapore
Marion Jepson, Felixstowe, UK - Johnny Tal, Haifa, Israel
Annie Watson, Felixstowe, UK - Claude Wittmann, Toronto, Canada
Colin Millar, Felixstowe, UK - Blake Morris, Brooklyn, New York City, USA
Gideon Bowden, Felixstowe, UK - Nobuko Hayashi, Rotterdam, Holland
Caroline Corker, Felixstowe, UK - Aurora De Santis, Civitanova Marche, Italy
Anonymous, Felixstowe, UK - Guillaume, Biarritz, France
Edie, Felixstowe, UK - Mar Salvá, Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
Lauren Carr, Felixstowe, UK - Elspeth ( Billie) Penfold, Whitstable, Kent, UK
Holly, Felixstowe, UK - Saulius Kmita, Neringa, Lithuania
S A Cartwright, Felixstowe, UK - C.C., Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Christian Hadwen, Felixstowe, UK - Masha Zhuravleva, Vladivostok, Russia
Catalina Carvajal, Felixstowe, UK - Ursula Troche, Maryport, UK
Voices: Rowan Foot, Clare Baker, Louise Stratford, Bryony Graham (Felixstowe resident and Director of Hamilton MAS, the micro arts space by the sea), Vicky Burling, Emma Foot, Wade Ablitt (Actor, Cafe owner), Stephen Blyth, Elly Clarke, Victoria Petchey (Artist, gallery owner), Steph Merrett (Library Manager), Joanna Blyth.