You can read more details of the events (and information about booking, where appropriate) here. There will be further activities in January, including a Photography Competition for local photographers to have a go at capturing the light installation – watch this space!

'Hryre' photo by David Heke

More photos…

You can read a press release about the event here and you can see a flyer advertising the event here.

You can read about the projections and the content of the projected fragments in the interpretation leaflet here. (It’s also handy to print and take along with you if you’re going to the site.)

For the next four months Nayan and Catherine will be developing the permanent content of the artwork, in consultation with the community. The current projections are a means of testing the illuminations and providing a real experience that will form the basis for a number of workshops to be held in Chester. We’re also keen to hear your thoughts and ideas: the leaflet explains how to give us your feedback.

Photographs will be available here very soon.

The first workshop linked to the development of our public art installation was held in the Chester Renaissance offices, Chester Visitor Centre, on Saturday 17 September. 19 local people responded to our invitation and joined Catherine Clarke (who’s leading the ‘Discover Medieval Chester’ project), the artist Nayan Kulkarni and other members of the artwork project team to discuss and develop ideas for the first, temporary lighting projections, to be sited at St John’s from early October 2011 until February 2012. The current phase of the project is funded by Cheshire West and Chester Council.

The public artwork will draw on the texts which we explored in our ‘Mapping Medieval Chester’ research, beaming words and fragments in light across the medieval ruins at St John’s Church, Chester. The workshop was an opportunity for us to identify possible text for the initial projections.

The workshop began with presentations from Nayan and Catherine, introducing everyone to the ‘Mapping Medieval Chester’ texts and research and to the technology and context of the proposed lighting installation. These were followed by various small-group sessions, with participants writing ideas for projections onto A4 paper. By the end of the day, these sheets pretty much papered the walls of the room!

In response to the workshop, Nayan said:

With over twenty perspectives on the material I was surprised that there was a consistent attraction to lines and phrases that were emotionally evocative. Furthermore, the idea of a secret (in Bradshaw’s text referring to a secret gate) underpinned many of the conversations that I had. The group were also interested in the play between the secular and the religious in the writing and its relationship to the ruin and the role of St John’s in the period.

The form of the artwork, projected light, seemed to provide an additional layer of thinking. Light is a profoundly evocative medium and I could see many participants trying to connect the medium with the contents of the texts.

The rhythm of the projections and the non-linear (looping) appearance across the ruins is going to be fundamental to the success of the work. As the workshop progressed and I started to see how different people were responding it became clear that the artwork needs to have a centre, a repeated element that anchors the artwork. The repeated word, phrase or text, will be the most seen element. With this in mind longer spaces of time between the different elements will be possible, so that the possible meanings generated by the artwork can grow from a repeated encounter.

We have now identified a series of words and phrases for the temporary projection, planned for installation in the week beginning October 3rd. Watch this space for more news and updates.

Once again, this project will be a team enterprise. Catherine Clarke (Swansea University), as Knowledge Transfer Fellow, will be joined by Keith Lilley (Queen’s University, Belfast) and Paul Vetch (King’s College, London). The other major project partner is the Grosvenor Museum, Chester, led by Sue Hughes, and other partners include Cheshire West and Chester Council, Visit Chester and Wrexham Museum. These organisations will share their experience of communicating with the public to help us devise new ways of disseminating our project research. ‘Discover Medieval Chester’ will soon have its own website – please check back for updates.

Medieval musicians at St John's Church

The Minstrels’ Court

Saturday 25 June 2011, 11am – 4pm

St John’s Church, by the Amphitheatre, Chester

Free Entry

Each year the minstrels of Cheshire would have to come to St John’s Church to be given their licenses to perform.  See the re-creation of this ceremony with music, story-telling, dancing and a host of medieval characters for you to meet around the site.

Look for Grosvenor Museum at www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/visiting

Music of a House

Sunday 26 June 2011, 12noon – 3pm

Led by Richard York

At the Old Medicine House, Blackden, Cheshire

A musical afternoon exploring the music of the past with special references to the history of the site.  A light lunch is included in the fee.

Fees:  £20

To book contact 01477 571445 or contact@theblackdentrust.org.uk

Blackden Trust, Blackden, Cheshire, CW4 8BY, www.theblackdentrust.org.uk

Medieval Cheshire

Saturday 30 July 2011, 10am – 4pm

Tutors: Jane Laughton, Sue Hughes, Tom Hughes

At the Old Medicine House, Blackden, Cheshire

Discover the history of Cheshire in the Middle Ages by examining documents, images and artefacts.

Fees:  Adults £45, Students £35

To book contact 01477 571445 or contact@theblackdentrust.org.uk

Blackden Trust, Blackden, Cheshire, CW4 8BY, www.theblackdentrust.org.uk

Medieval pilgrims at St John's

Heritage Open Days, Medieval Chester

Saturday 10 and Sunday 11 September 2011, 10am – 4pm

The Water Tower, Chester City Walls

Free Entry

Discover the atmospheric Water Tower and meet some characters from medieval Chester.

Look for Grosvenor Museum at www.cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk/visiting

Medieval Christmas

Sunday 27 November 2011, 12 noon – 4pm

Norton Priory Museum, Cheshire

The pilgrims arrive at Norton Priory to create a festive scene in the medieval Undercroft.

Norton Priory Museum and Garden, Tudor Road, Runcorn, Cheshire, www.nortonpriory.org

Early in De laude Cestrie, Lucian casually remarks plerumque quod nec civis attendit, peregrinus appendit (‘often a stranger ponders what a citizen does not even consider’). And so it was with this visit. I was lucky enough to be showing a visitor round the city, and her fresh eyes discerned new questions.

Naturally my Lucian-lite tour took in the churches (St Peter’s, St Michael’s, St Werburgh’s, St John’s) and the walls. My obdurate visitor persisted in asking at every stage “so what was in the space between them?”. This is what I usually call a ‘difficult’ question (i. e. one I can’t answer), but the fact that I couldn’t answer it satisfactorily was itself revelatory. I’d become so attuned to Lucian’s ecclesiastical topography that I’d forgotten, to a certain extent, that Chester was not just a religious space, but also a commercial, residential and social environment.

A further surprise was how big the intra-mural area of Chester is. I wrote an article last summer that discussed a day Lucian describes in which he walked from St Werburgh’s to St Michael’s to hear mass,  to St John’s to pray, then on to the castle to conduct some abbey business. The factor I now recognise I neglected to consider is the time this would have taken Lucian; these locations are a significant distance apart. Lucian’s progress between them could have taken two or three hours, a rate of progress any nineteenth-century flâneur would regard with pride.

My experience, and Lucian’s remark, contain a broader lesson, I think; the lesson that we, as academic citizens, must look to share our work with anyone interested. Strangers can pose and answer important questions which are all to easy to neglect. Those hostile to the idea of ‘impact’ would do well to ask not what they can do for the public, but what the public can do for them.

Fecunde unum debriat quod alteri de facili profluebat (‘What readily flows forth from one, completely intoxicates another’). So Lucian remarks just before the words I have been discussing here. This remark seems just as true, and for that reason I must thank all the peregrini who came to the Festival last August, and particularly the peregrina who accompanied me on Friday. I am ‘completely intoxicated’ (or as we would now say, extremely grateful).

We’re currently working with the Grosvenor Museum Chester, and other partners in Chester itself, to look at ways in which we could share our project research with the local community and visitors to the city. We’re hoping to apply for funding to make this possible and have several meetings coming up to discuss ideas. Watch this space for news as our plans take shape!

On a separate note, we’ve just found out that the ‘Mapping Medieval Chester’ project will be featuring in an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) report for government and other stakeholders entitled ‘Changing the World: the impact of the arts and humanities’. We’re really pleased to be included in a report which shows the value that this kind of research can have both within and beyond academia. Who knows – perhaps Peter Mandelson will soon be reading about Lucian and Henry Bradshaw over his morning cup of coffee…