WALK with Alisa Oleva

What happened when the city became the guide? Where did it lead participants? What emerged when they followed the city’s textures and smells? Which streets called to them and which places did they avoid? What stories were revealed in the cracks of the pavement and the gaps between lampposts?

Participants joined walking artist Alisa Oleva to explore the hidden messages woven into the city. Through a series of walking prompts, they were invited to experience Manchester in new and playful ways—asking questions, following their senses, noticing the invisible and the inaudible, and collectively rewriting and rewiring the way its streets were walked.

WALK with Morag Rose

What could the city streets reveal? What was Manchester trying to tell us? Did it have a spirit? How could we enchant the everyday and find new ways to explore familiar places? How might we anchor ourselves in a landscape that was always in flux?

Participants joined Morag Rose of the Loiterers Resistance Movement, a Manchester-based psychogeographical collective, for a walk through the city that explored these questions. For over twenty years, the collective had organised free, communal, creative walks on the first Sunday of every month, gathering stories that connected invisible dots, uncovered hidden power lines, celebrated serendipity, and collectively remapped the city.

The Loiterers Resistance Movement manifesto states: “We believe there is magic in the Mancunian rain. Our city is wonderful and made for more than shopping. The streets belong to everyone, and we want to reclaim them for play and revolutionary fun.”

Drawing on psychogeographical theory, the walk combined storytelling, performance, poetry, and politics. Participants were encouraged to embrace interruptions, diversions, questions, and debate as they experienced Manchester from new perspectives.