Gathered and presented by artists Kathryn Ashill and Paul Hurley, 'The Composting Heap' is an expanded interdisciplinary reading group, engaging with themes of this year’s festival. Drawing on a range of cultural texts – films, music videos, essays, and podcasts, - the resulting heap is an informal and accessible space for ideas to be combined, digested, and transformed into fertile matter.

Kathryn Ashill and Paul Hurley are interdisciplinary artist-researchers, both of whose works deals with human and non-human encounters, queerness and performance. Since emerging in shared worlds of experimental practice in Cardiff in the 00’s, they have both been away on artistic and academic lines of flight, before converging again more recently, connecting through an excitement around ideas, making and doing. Both have been involved in Experimentica as artists, as well as participants and organisers of reading groups and artist breakfasts. Kathryn is based in Barry, Paul is based in Bristol. They have both extensive experience in making performances, exhibitions and participatory projects across the UK. Kathryn is a practicing artist and has recently completed their PhD at the University of Manchester. The body of research focused on interspecies connectivity across performance art and science and animal therapy, particularly through the lens of queer theory and disability studies. Paul was previously an Associate Lecturer in Visual Culture at the University of West of England, and is currently a Senior Research Fellow in cultural geography at University of Southampton.

Access: BSL by Cathryn McShane (Friday only)

Audio Flyer: Accessible Programme