EDINBURGH.- Artists Tim Knowles and Ania Bas will lead a performative event in and around Edinburgh’s Summerhall at 10.30am on 1 August as part of the opening events of the 2014 Edinburgh Art Festival. The walking artists will explore the surroundings of the former Royal Dick Vet School as well as the corridors, cupboards, nooks and crannies including spaces which have not been open to the public since the building became Summerhall.

While land artist Richard Long has tramped the earth in an attempt to understand it mass Tim Knowles walks to comprehend its power.

Bas’ most recent project with Bow Arts and Whitechapel Gallery through The Walking Reading Group on Participation offered the chance to discuss issues surrounding participation, engagement, collaboration and social practice whilst exploring the streets of London. Knowles, meanwhile is best known for making visible what is, by nature or by design, unseen, with his walking usually taking place in the rural landscape.

In addition to the perforamtive walk at Summerhall Bas and Knowles will be joined by artists Gill Russell and Alec Finlay in a discussion exploring the differences between the rural and the urban in the context of walking art. The discussion, which will take place at Creative Scotland at 2pm on 1 August, will be chaired by curator and writer, Dave Beech.

Urbanscape + Ruralsprawl is a Deveron Arts project organised in collaboration with Edinburgh Arts Festival supported by Creative Scotland, Aberdeenshire Council and Heritage Lottery Fund

Ania Bas creates situations that support dialogue and exchange. She is interested in ways narratives shape understanding, mythology and knowledge of places and people. Bas’ works take forms of walks, text, events and publications. She is co-founder of The Walking Reading Group on Participation.

Tim Knowles is best known for making visible what is, by nature or by design, unseen. Working in a range of media from photography and video to drawing and light installation, Knowles creates process-oriented works that rely on chance and environmental elements. Known for incorporating nature into his projects, Knowles is currently artist in residence at IBERS [Institute of Biological, Environmental and Rural Sciences] in Aberystwyth. In 2013 he was commissioned by City of Sydney to produce Mass Windwalk, he also participated in Mildura Palimpsest Biennale, Australia. His work is currently included in the National touring exhibition Walk On; From Richard Long to Janet Cardiff - 40 years of Art Walking and recent shows; Drawing making: Making drawing, the Drawing Room, London; Paths of Variable Resistance, Airspace Gallery, Stoke on Trent; For Each Gesture Another Character, Art Stations gallery, Poznań, Poland.