Palace Intrusions – Benchmark 4 (talks)

With an atmosphere reminiscent of Speakers Corner at Hyde Park in London and a prayer meeting on the Village Green, this is an event for all the family.  Each guest will speak for 20 minutes and there will be opportunities for questions and to meet the speakers. Bring a picnic and make a day of it.

Saturday 31 May
12pm – Charles Hazlewood (music) Somerset Swan songs
2pm – Ian Constantinides (restoration) The Philosophy of Repair
4pm – Mark Horton (archaeology) Should Wells be a World Heritage site?

Sunday 1 June
12pm – Right Reverend Peter Price, Bishop of Bath and Wells The Palace
2pm -– Pat Wolseley–lichen Why are lichens so interesting?
4pm – Duncan Speakman – sound  walking, listening, performing – how headphones can create both intimacy and exposure in public spaces

Photo by Paul Roylance. With generous support from Waterstone’s Bookshop.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHIES

Charles Hazlewood
Following his studies at Christ's Hospital and Oxford University, Charles Hazlewood was nominated by the BBC as the UK's sole representative in the European Broadcasting Union conducting competition in Lisbon. He won first prize and following this success he has established himself as one of Britain's most exciting young conductors. He is currently Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Concert Orchestra, with whom he made his debut at the BBC Proms in 2006. He brought the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain to the 2007 Glastonbury Festival, making history in performing the first ever symphony concert on the world-famous Pyramid Stage. Artmusic is delighted to have Charles Hazlewood as Patron of Palace Intrusions.

Ian Constantinides
Ian Constantinides trained as a materials scientist with the Atomic Energy Authority. He started St Blaise Ltd in 1980 to conserve historic buildings by combining the skills and philosophy of the conservator with those of the traditional roles.

Mark Horton
Mark Horton is an archaeologist and Head of Department of Archaeology and Anthropology at Bristol University. He has lots of interests, Africa and the Caribbean, maritime landscapes and academic issues of presenting the past through TV and Radio. He has presented and co presented ‘Coast ‘, ’Time Team’ and ‘Inside Out ‘. He worked on excavating the Bishop’s Palace in 2002 and has been involved in numerous projects in Wells and Mendip over the last 15 years.

The Right Reverend Peter Price, Bishop of Bath and Wells
Bishop Peter has broadcast regularly on BBC World Service and Independent Radio in London, has contributed to a series for BBC Radio 2, and has been grilled by Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight. He has written several books and his latest Undersong – Listening to the Soul was published in 2002. In his spare time he enjoys gardening, writing and “chilling out” in the West of Ireland. In 1999 Bishop Peter was awarded the Coventry Cross of Nails for his work in reconciliation, particularly through his involvement in Northern Ireland, Latin America and Iraq.

Pat Wolseley
President of the Lichen association. Pat is a botanist at the Natural History Museum, London. 30 years ago she started working on lichens, at first in this country then expanding to the tropics. Since then she have worked in remote places of Thailand, Kalimantan, Malaysia and more recently Sri Lanka using lichens as indicators of environmental health. Since 2003 she has been working in this country where she has been developing bioindication techniques for nitrogen across the UK in conjunction with the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

Duncan Speakman
Duncan Speakman is a sound artist based in Bristol, UK. His work examines how we use sound to locate ourselves in personal and political environments. Seeking out the poetics of the everyday, he creates socially relevant experiences that engage audiences emotionally and physically in public spaces. He has been exhibited internationally at festivals including ISEA, Futuresonic, ArteAlmeda, Navigate, InBetweenTime and Xtracts, and has created pieces for a number of large scale site-specific events.  In 2002 he was awarded the Clark Trust Bursary for Digital Arts he has received critical acclaim for his videoblog 29fragiledays. He is a senior lecturer in media practice at the University of the West of England and is currently developing site-responsive soundwalks.