The 2019 Goonhilly Village Green Gathering, took place on Goonhilly Downs on 18th May.
Goonhilly Village Green formed for one day only! The site came alive with ideas, information and artwork at The Gathering, a free fun day for all the family. With our Village Green Society Talk & Screening Programme in the Happidrome, guided walks and drop in activities that exploring different stories of the site, and new artworks commissioned for the project.
For information about the full programme please scroll down, or use the links in the text above. Photographs documenting the Gathering were taken by Artur Tixiliski
EVENT PROGRAMME
The Village Green Society Lectures & Screenings
Each talk lasts for approximately 30 minutes, so make sure you get there in time to get a seat! Between talks, see a selection of films, short films will be played through several times in the break between talks.
The Happidrome building where the talks & screening programme takes place is an old World War II radar shelter so be careful when you enter, give your eyes time to adjust to the darkness and take care over the uneven floor.
Talks
Screenings
11.30 Chris Coldwell – Project Development Officer at the Cornwall Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty will speak about what this organisation is, what they do on the Lizard and across the whole AONB area, and how you might get involved in their work.
12.00 Double Brass, Abigail Reynolds, 2014 A physical record of a performance piece by Abigail Reynolds in collaboration with St Keverne band in Cornwall. ‘Double Brass’ was performed at noon on the summer solstice 2014 and recorded entirely by audience members. This crowd-sourced video was edited together from 41 individual recordings. The next performance of ‘Double Brass’ will be at noon on the summer solstice 2020 at Kestle Barton.
12.30 Abigail Reynolds – Abigail is an artist based in St Just with a studio at Porthmeor in St Ives. She will speak about works she has made on and for the Lizard peninsula in the past 5 years. All of these works use walking lines and sound alignments on key dates in the solar calendar as a structure. They also create moments bringing groups together to consider layered and haptic readings of specific places as a physical experience
13.00 Satellite, Nelson Henricks, 2004 The human ear. A gatherer of energy. A gatherer of sound. RPMs and BPMs. Satellites go up to the sky. Nelson Henricks combines found footage and techno beats to question western society’s ongoing obsession with science, technology and the future.
13.30 Paul Chaney – Artist Paul will talk about the origins of the Lizard Exit Plan project and use the histories of the former inhabitants of the Downs to explore the problems of transcendence, and the notion of an impossible exit from the tyranny of the biotic sphere in the context of our current ecological predicaments.
14.00 Paul Chaney, Eathorne Stone, 2004 A moving image document showing the once lost Eathorne Stone Menhir near Falmouth. A chance meeting between Paul Chaney and folklorist Steve Paterson led to re-erection of this ancient stone after it had been uprooted and discarded by an over zealous farmer in the mid 1980’s
14.30 Dr Andrew Ormerod is interested in understanding things we have forgotten about or overlooked from the past that are relevant to the future, with a particular interest in local farming systems and how resilient we can be in the face of global food systems.
15.00 Urth, Ben Rivers, 2016 The last woman on Earth. Filmed inside Biosphere 2 in Arizona, a center for research, outreach, teaching, and lifelong learning about Earth. Urth forms a cinematic meditation on ambitious experiments, constructed environments, and visions of the future. Writer Mark von Schlegell contributes a text-read as the final log instalments of a woman sealed inside an unforgiving environment. The film considers what an endeavor such as Biosphere 2 might mean today and in the near future, in terms of humankind’s relationship with the natural world.
15.30 Dr Alan M. Kent will speak about his latest novel “Turning Serpentine”. The work is set on The Lizard and in the landscape of Goonhilly Downs. Drawing on sacred geometry, his own research of the area, and of the ancient skill of serpentine turning, Kent will explain the novel’s narrative and how this particular story arose.
Activities & Walks
All day activities
Goonhillygrams, What would you say to a time traveller? What would you show an alien visitor? What will museum labels say in 5000AD? Learn what happens when a Neolithic stone has a conversation with a satellite and a Post Office opens in space. Trace and translate wiggling radio waves and messages in morse. Create alphabets for aliens and codes for keeping in touch: a day of cosmic creative writing, inspired by Goonhilly Downs.
Sea to Stars Roadshow, come and hold a meteorite, the oldest thing you will ever touch. Learn about the stars and planets. Try out refractive and reflective telescopes, and solarscopes for observing the sun. Cornwall Sea to Stars is an outreach organisation funded by the Royal Astronomical Society to take the sciences of Geophysics and Astronomy to communities in Cornwall.
Timed activities
11.00 – 15.00 Lost Rock Library Clay Workshop, make your own addition to the Lost Rock Library inspired by a rock you own, a rock you remember or a rock you’ve just seen. Learn how to create basic shapes using clay, and explore using rocks to create texture and impressions. The sculptures we create will be displayed alongside the library for the day, forming a new collection of your rocks and their stories.
11.30 – 13.00 Landscape Painters Anonymous is an en plein air painting workshop. Using watercolours, participants are invited to indulge in the leisurely pursuit of observational painting within the wild landscape of Goonhilly Downs. Painting and drawing experience is not necessary and materials are provided.
12.00 Archaeology walk setting off from the Village Green, and led by archaeologist Charlie Johns, each walk lasts for around 20 minutes. From iron age to present day this landscape houses some very special sites so take this chance to find out more about the many historic layers that make up The Downs.
12.56 Welcome (Sent Forever) performance on the Village Green. Beth Emily Richards has worked with Daisy Higman, Hum, and Chris Mayoh
to create a performance taking place at solar noon, welcoming everyone, across earthly and astral borders, to 2019’s Goonhilly Village Green.
13.15 – 13.45 World folk music performance by Hum on the Village Green
13.30 – 16.00 Explore curiosities from the Eden Project with Chris Bisson on the Village Green at their Invisible Worlds Curiosity Table – “Come and experience the Invisible Worlds of Goonhilly Village Green! We’ve grown some microbes especially! Have a sniff, prod, look and listen to some of world’s invisible gems.”
14.00 – 15.30 Landscape Painter Anonymous is an en plein air painting workshop. Using watercolours, participants are invited to indulge in the leisurely pursuit of observational painting within the wild landscape of Goonhilly Downs. Painting and drawing experience is not necessary and materials are provided.
14.00 Archaeology walk setting off from the Village Green, and led by archaeologist Charlie Johns, each walk lasts for around 20 minutes. From iron age to present day this landscape houses some very special sites so take this chance to find out more about the many historic layers that make up The Downs.
16.00 Follow the ‘Goonhilly Standard’ and process from the Green back to the Earth Station at the end of the days events.
Artworks
The following artists have been working with local organisations and community groups since Autumn 2018 to create new works for the Gathering:
James Hankey has been working with Goonhilly Earth Station & Goonhilly Heritage Society and will be presenting new works in the Happidrome
Paul Chaney has been responding to the Natural England site of Goonhilly Downs, his new work Lizard Exit Plan : Goonhilly Sector will be on the roof of the Happidrome and in the landscape of the Downs.
Sara Bowler has been researching the history of boundaries at Trelowarren Estate, listen out for her new work Thresholds near the Dry Tree Menhir.
Beth Emily Richards has been exploring the collections at The Museum of Cornish Life, her new work Welcome (Sent Forever) has been made in collaboration with Daisy Higman, Hum, and Chris Mayoh. Watch out for the performance on the Village Green at solar noon – 12.56.
Rosanna Martin used sessions working with young people from the Lizard Outreach Trust as a starting point for her project The Lost Rock Library. Check out the Library on the Village Green for your opportunity to take a rock out on permanent loan.
Other artworks not to miss as you explore the site are…
Oliver Raymond-Barker‘s new camera obscura work Conduit, will be found just off the path beyond the Dry Tree Menhir. Step inside to experience an alternative view.
Trail Mix[ED] & Bram Thomas Arnold present Cardinal Points; A Goonhilly Green Show – tune in using the analog radios positioned across the site.
Liminal‘s 2015 work for Goonhilly Village Green has been re-envisaged to include a wifi network for the Village Green, seek out Transient Parish II on the Village Green.
Elizabeth Masterton, a founding artist of the Goonhilly Village Green has re-imagined the GVG banner come and admire our new insignia on the Village Green.
Phyllida Bluemel has created a Chronicle for the Village Green, pick up your copy at the Old Battery Store when you arrive for news, events, updates and findings from Goonhilly Village, the Downs and the surrounding Galaxies. You’ll also find a useful site map inside!
GOONHILLY VILLAGE GREEN 