Simon Persighetti, 6 St Gluvias Street, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 8BL. Mobile: 07810684589
Simon.Persighetti@falmouth.ac.uk
Wrights & Sites www.mis-guide.com/ws.html
Born: Southend-on-sea, 1954 Southend School of Art & Design (Foundation Art & Design), Dartington College of
Arts 1981-85 (BA Hons.Theatre) Dartington College of Arts/ University Plymouth 2008 PhD
Simon Persighetti is a Senior Lecturer and Course Leader in Devised Theatre (Falmouth University) and a core
member of Wrights & Sites, a group of performance-trained artists who have been producing site-specific
performances, walking projects and other art works since their formation in 1997. Their book: A Mis-Guide to
Anywhere was launched at the ICA, London, Spring 2006. His teaching and research both focus on contemporary
performance (site-specific arts and devised theatre). Simon has a background in visual arts (Southend School of
Art & Design, Foundation) and graphic and film work at Clarks Shoes. He later became involved in community arts
action and touring theatre with White Horse Travelling Theatre and Gog Theatre on their epic tour of Cameroon,
West Africa. For 4 years, he taught visual arts and drama in Zambia. His research focuses on performance in and
of place, cityscape and landscape, and he completed a PhD (Practice) entitled, Mis-Guided exploration of Cities:
an ambulant investigation of participative politics of place. (2008)
As a core member of tEXt Festivals, involved in the planning and programming of multi-media writing platforms
and events (2002 –2007) he was involved with writing in many forms. His BBC radio play Maps (1985), the
Edinburgh Festival production of TRAIN and Love Bites performed in Berlin and Munich, all have threads of travel
and journey at their heart. As well as his urban exploratory work that has included projects in Copenhagen,
Zurich, Vienna, London, Fribourg, Weimar and New York, he has also written scripts for the theatre with an
adaptation of The Snow Queen (2006) and A Christmas Carol (2007) Cinderella (2008) for The Brewhouse
Theatre Company, Taunton, Somerset. Because devising is central to his professional teaching (Falmouth
University / Dartington Campus) and work in theatre and non-theatre spaces, interdisciplinary approaches to
making work and issues around contextual practice are at the heart of his practice. Simon was a Council of
Management member for SPACEX Gallery for 5 years and Chair of Newtown Community Association, Exeter for
7 Years.
Simon Persighetti: Projects, Research & Practice:
Current projects include:
WALK ON: From Richard Long to Janet Cardiff - 40 years of Art Walking, exhibition (2013-14) at the Pitzhanger
Gallery in Ealing followed by tour to NGCA Sunderland, MAC Birmingham, THE ATKINSON Southport, CITY
MUSEUM Plymouth. Featuring the work of: Marina Abramovic • Francis Alÿs • Tim Brennan • Atul Bhalla • Janet
Cardiff • Rachael Clewlow • Mike Collier • Chris Drury • Hamish Fulton • Tracy Hanna • Tim Knowles • Richard
Long • Melanie Manchot • Julian Opie • James Hugonin • Ingrid Pollard • Simon Pope • Plan B • Brian Thompson •
Richard Wentworth • Wrights & Sites • walkwalkwalk • Jeremy Wood.
www.art-circuit.org.uk/index.php?/forthcoming/walking-journeys/
2012 Projects:
August 2012: SIGNS &WONDERS : a series of public walks, visitations, and live expositions in Lancaster and Newchurch
in Pendle exploring the transformation of objects and ideas, pointing to key locations and evidence associated
with the Lancashire Witch Trials of 1612. Co-commissioned by Live at LICA and Green Close in Melling, as part
of Lancashire Witches 400. SignsandWondersLancaster.tumblr.com
September 2012: Spaces & Waves: a series of public performance walk / mis-guide tours by Crabman, Signpost
& Bell (Etheridge, Persighetti, Smith) commissioned by b-side Festival, Weymouth.
September 2012: Ambulant Architecture as part of Sideways Festival, Belgium: a series of performances, talks &
walks, live art, site-specific interventions. Wrights & Sites took part in this walkshop between Turnhout and
Zutendaal. Commissioned by Trag Wegen, Belgium. www.tragewegen.be/nl/about
1
Simon Persighetti, 2011 Projects include:
April 2011: Tracks, a music and sound walk in Plymouth with Tony Whitehead for the Second
International Research Forum on Guided Tours at the University of Plymouth.
2010 Projects include: August-September 2010: Ambulation. Exhibition and Events by artists who use journeying
and walking as an artistic practice.
including a collaboration with walking and sound artist Tony Whitehead.
Plymouth Arts Centre Plymouth, UK, Curated by Mark James.
2009 Projects:
January 31: Walk on the Wild Side collaboration with sound artist Tony Whitehead. A guided walk of city and
forest tracking and imagining the traces of urban wildlife that inhabit inner- city Plymouth exploring themes within
The Animal Gaze Exhibition, work by over 40 international artists shown at various venues including Plymouth Arts
Centre and CCANW, Exeter, as part of celebrations of 150th anniversary of the publication of
Darwin’s’ On the Origin of Species. organised and curated by Rosemarie McGoldrick.
February 11-18, Assessing student work on the MA in Contemporary Arts Practice & Dissemination
(MACAPD) Centre Creacio L'Animal a l'esquena - Center for practice-based research and training programme in
dance, choreography & physically based performance in association with University of Girona, Spain.
18-21 June Longshore Drift: A coastal path walk and investigation exploring sand dunes, sea defences and tidal
traffic. A Wrights & Sites collaboration for LIVING LANDSCAPES, an international conference on performance,
landscape and environment [AHRC Landscape and Environment Conference 2009] Aberystwyth, 18-21 June
2009 http://www.landscape.ac.uk/2009conference.html
6-28 June A Primitive Hut: a collaboration with liminal Architect, Frances Crow on a forest-sited construction
based upon the rationality of construction as generator of architectural form (from the legend of the origins of the
first house as recounted in Histoire de l'habitation humaine, Viollet-le-Duc, Paris, 1755) for ECOPOETICS Exhibition
and Events at Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural World http://www.liminal.org.uk/
2008 Projects:
2008: Fabulous Walks, a mini-festival of all-new performance walks in Teignbridge, Devon. Each of the walks
was created for its particular route and inspired by the landscape, the
history, the stories and eccentricities of the places that they passed through. Devised by Katie Etheridge,
Anoushka Athique, Simon Persighetti, Phil Smith, Chartwell Dutiro, Nicola Singh, Fumiaki Tanaka and Rachel
Sweeney. Supported by Teignbridge Council and the Arts Council England.
2008: Mis-Guided. Curated and mentored a programme of new “mis-guided” work by international artists that
aimed to disrupt frameworks and reveal the unexpected, the “elsewheres” in the city of Fribourg (Switzerland).
Commissioned by The Belluard Bollwerk International (BBI) and the Pour-cent culturel Migros. (co-creator with
Wrights & Sites) http://www.belluard.ch/en/node/51
2008: Mis-Guided Exploration of Cities: an ambulant investigation of participative politics of place. Practice as
Research Catalogue and Thesis completion (2007) and PhD Graduation, October 2008 (University of Plymouth &
Dartington College of Arts)
2007 Projects:
2007: (co-creator with Wrights & Sites) Stadtverführungen in Wien. Curating and mentoring a series of 15
commissioned Mis-Guide projects in public spaces throughout the city of Vienna. Co-production: Tanzquartier Wien
and the Wiener Festwochen. http://www.mis- guide.com/vienna.html
2007: A Series Of Stumbles & Interruptions As a practical investigation of some of the issues raised by the
Performance Studies International conference roundtable on "Site-Specificity” Simon Persighetti of Wrights & Sites
(UK) convened a short walk based upon some of the principals of Mis-Guidance that propose walking as a means
of being able to make place step-by-step and moment-to- moment. The Department of Performance Studies of
Tisch School of the Arts, New York University and Performance Studies international.
2
Simon Persighetti, 2006 Projects:
2006: Simultaneous Drift (4 walks, 4 routes, 4 screens), a performance-lecture on Wrights & Sites' site and
walking-based practices and overlaps with architecture, urban exploration, activism and autobiography.
Commissioned for the Situations programme at Arnolfini, Bristol (Co-creator with Wrights & Sites)
2006: Forest Drift, a walk transferring Wrights & Sites' practices of urban exploration, surrealistic derambulation
and mis-guidance from the city to the trees. Commissioned by the Centre for Contemporary Art and the Natural
World. (Co-creator with Wrights & Sites)
2006: 4 Mis-Guided Tours: ICA The Mall, London, Saturday 8th April to mark the launch of A Mis-Guide to
Anywhere (Wrights & Sites publication with Tony Weaver)
2006: 4 screens #2, a photographic/video installation for the 'Gallery of Utopias' (accompanied by a reading
of A Manifesto for a New Walking Culture: dealing with the city) at PSi #12: Performing Rights. The second in a
series of ongoing walking and video experiments entitled 4 screens. London: Queen Mary University, Live Art
Development Agency & Performance Studies International. (Co-creator with Wrights & Sites)
2006: tEXt: a celebration of Travel Writing centred at Exeter Phoenix supported by Arts Council South West and
other partners. included exhibitions and presentations by: Aisle 16, Apples & Snakes, Art Office, Bernardine
Evaristo, Blind Ditch, Bloodaxe: Being Alive, John Cayley, Val Diggle, Zena Edwards, Gilbert & Grape,
International Necronautical Society, Matt Harvey, Philip Hensher, Shamshad Khan, Philip Kuhn, Medlar Lucan &
Durian Gray, Ian Marchant, organicARTS, Duncan Speakman, Greta Stoddart, Virtual Writing, Mike Walker and
Bryn Harrison, Amanda White. (Core Member and co-ordinator.)
2005: A Michael Chekhov Mis-Guide commissioned by Dartington Hall Trust to mark the Chekhov Symposium,
Dartington Estate (November 2005) (Co-creator with Phil Smith)
2005: Subverting the City: A Mis-Guide to Milton Keynes, short documentary for Channel 4's 3 Minute Wonder. (Cocreator with Wrights & Sites and Optimistic Productions/Fulcrum TV)
2005: 4th tEXt Festival centred at Exeter Phoenix supported by Arts Council South West and other partners.
tEXt:05 included exhibitions by Gee Vaucher & Christian Brett, Gavin Turk, Felicity Shillingford and presentations
by Crass Agenda, Ralph Hoyte, Francesca Beard and Adrian Mitchell. (Core Member and co-ordinator)
2004: Blue Boy Walks, Wrights & Sites, Exeter - a series of mis-guided walks, made for Homeland, organised by
Spacex and Relational Projects. (Co-creator)
2004: 3rd tEXt Festival at Exeter Phoenix and other sites and venues supported by Arts Council South West and
other partners. tEXt: i-Dentity and the Word included Open Text Studio, a residency by Fiona Templeton and work
by Blind Ditch, Dartington Performance Writing, Sound Gallery, The Clod Ensemble and Alice Oswald. Funded by
South Qwest Arts. (Core Member and co-ordinator)
2003: Lost Tours, Wrights & Sites, Exeter & Welcombe Barton Shed Summit - Arts Council England funded R&D
project exploring psycho-geographic & mytho-geographic practices through the frame of a series of guided and
Lost Tours.
2003: Exeter Picture House Exhibition of Wrights & Sites and Tony Weaver work-in-progress showing
development of images, maps and texts for An Exeter Mis-Guide. (Co-creator)
2003: 2nd tEXt Festival at Exeter Phoenix and other sites and venues supported by Arts Council South West and
other partners. tEXt: Excavation and the Word included exhibitions and presentations by Graham Rawle, Polly
Macpherson, Sahiba al Khemir, Sarah Chapman, Rob Newman, Michael Donaghy and new film work, America
America by Barbara Bridger. (Core Member and co-ordinator)
2002: First tEXt Festival at Exeter Phoenix and other sites and venues supported by South West Arts Innovation
grant. tEXt: Place and the Word included work and presentations by Things Not Worth Keeping- cris Cheek &
Kirsten Lavers, Bill Drummond, Linton Kwesi Johnson, Caroline Bergvall and photographer, Marcus Davies. PLUS
tEXt and the city, Wrights & Sites, Exeter - a public intervention and postcard project, chalking on the city-centre
pavements.(Core Member and co-ordinator)
2000: Passages - a series of performances and installations in Exeter Underground Passages. Year of the Artist
commissioned event Funded By South West Arts. (Deviser)
2000: The Dig , Wrights & Sites, Exeter - commissioned by South West Arts to launch the of Year of the Artist.
(Co-creator/performer)
1999: Short Day Long Line, a 4.7 Km. millennium chalk line across the city of Exeter; a Performance Walk to mark
the last angelcast production and the end of the 20th Century. (Director/facilitator)
1998: The Quay Thing presented by Wrights & Sites, whose site-specific performances took place throughout the
summer on Exeter Quay and Canal. The project was awarded £97,000 by the Arts Council of England.
Deviser/director of 2 performances: Pilot Navigation at the Double Locks , WATT: absolute power at former Exeter
Power Station. (Co-director)
3
Simon Persighetti: Projects, Research & Practice (Continued)
1995/99 Creator/performer of angelcast productions devising and producing site-specific events and film
projects in Exeter locations including: Archangel of Industry at St Thomas Railway Arches, Storehouse at Kennaway
Warehouse, The Drop (event and film directed by Stephen Clarke) on the streets of Topsham, Textstyles at the
Real McCoy Arcade, Raw&Cooked with Clarissa Dixon-Wright at Harry’s Restaurant, Longbrook Street, Exeter
1994/95: Writer/Director adaptation of Snow Queen for St Thomas, Exeter Community Play, commissioned by
Exeter & Devon Arts Centre. Cast of 100, seven-day run to full capacity audiences at Buller Hall, Exeter,
December-January.
Publications:
2006: A Manifesto for a New Walking Culture: dealing with the city, Performance Research, vol.11. no.2 (co-author
with Wrights & Sites)
2004-6: A Mis-Guide to Anywhere - exploring psycho-geographic & mytho-geographic processes through the
frame of a guide book. Published April 2006, (ISBN 0-9546130-1-5) developed through support from DCA
Enterprise, Proof of Concept and funded by Arts Council England South West.
2003-5: A Courtauld Mis-Guide, Wrights & Sites, Courtauld Institute, London - mapped walks, commissioned for
Urban Networks (East Wing Collection 06, 2003-5). (Co-creator)
2003: An Exeter Mis-Guide - publication exploring psycho-geographic & mytho-geographic practices through the
frame of a guide book. Published 2003, (ISBN 0-9546130-O-7) Arts Council England & Local Heritage Initiative
funded. (co-author with Wrights & Sites)
2000 SITE-SPECIFIC: The Quay Thing documented (Studies in Theatre and Performance: Supplement 4) documentation of the 1998 site-specific performances of Wrights & Sites. (Editor/contributor)
Principal Research Interests:
Site-specific and walking practices. Recently completed practice-based PhD exploring the potential for public
participation in site-specific arts activities through the application of mythogeography and mis-guidance. MisGuiding Cities: an ambulant investigation of the participative politics of place. Dartington College of Arts/ University
of Plymouth. 2008
Papers at Conferences:
2008: The Pavement as a Political Site. Presented at ACC Gallery & Bauhaus University, Weimar.(July 7 2008)
2007: Site-Specificity: The Spatial Politics of Interruption. Presentation with Panelists: Laurie Beth Clark, University of
Wisconsin; Bertie Ferdman, The Graduate Center, CUNY; Annette Arlander, Theatre Academy, Finland; Chair:
Melanie Kloetzel/Idaho State University. The Department of Performance Studies of Tisch School of the Arts at
New York University and Performance Studies international #13: Happening/Performance/Event.
2005 A Manifesto for an Everyday Walking Culture- - Cities for People: The Sixth International Conference on
Walking in the 21st Century, School of Art & Design, Zurich
2004 Anywhere: Theories and Practices at Play in the Current Work of Wrights & Sites - Site / Sight <-> Source /
Resource Symposium, University of Exeter.
2004 Mis-Guiding the City Walker - Cities for People: The Fifth International Conference on Walking in the 21st
Century, School of Architecture, Copenhagen.
2001 Out of Place: The Politics of Site-Specific Performance in Contested Space (a performance presentation) University of Birmingham, Performance of Place Conference.
Simon Persighetti, 6 St Gluvias Street, Penryn, Cornwall, TR10 8BL
(Updated May 2013)
4