Culture Forager, Vol.1

Welcome to Culture Forager, a place for you to root around and rummage in what’s been piquing our interest each month. From books to podcasts, poems to recipes (and pretty much anything else we think you should know about) we’ll take you through our top five foraged findings.

THE ZINE

Weird Walk, ‘a journal of wanderings and wonderings from the British Isles’, is, as the name suggests, all about walking on the weirder side. Outside of our cities, in the depths of the countryside, lie ancient paths, mystical lands and enchanting stories – all of which can be found in the pages of these zines, perfect for the curious ambler or rambler.

THE PODCAST

A celebration of folk music, walking and storytelling, each episode of Folk on Foot, hosted by Matthew Bannister, features a leading folk artist who performs their music in the landscapes and locations that inspire them – from Sheffield to Shetland and everywhere in between.

THE ALBUM

Recorded in the mountains outside of Kyoto, Masakatsu Takagi’s album Marginalia misc.1 is an audible exchange between art and the natural world. Alive with the sounds of birdsong, rainfall and crickets, it’s as if these improvised (and impossibly relaxing) piano lullabies are composed in collaboration with nature itself.

THE APP

Picture this: you’re lying in the grass, a bird starts chirping, and you wish you knew what you were listening to – there’s an app for that. Introducing Chirpomatic, i.e. the Shazam of birdsong. Use the app to record what you hear and it will match the song to the species in 12 seconds.

THE EXHIBITION

Curated by Caroline Till and Kate Franklin for Barbican, Our Time on Earth is an immersive, interactive exhibition exploring how humans and nature can live (and thrive) side by side. With perspectives from the worlds of design, art and technology, this exhibition is less about the scale and shame of the climate emergency, and more about constructive paths towards a flourishing future.