Walk-shops, Gorfenhaf – July 18/19, 2026. Coetir Tycanol & Neuadd Brynberian Hall
Stretchy Symbionts is a celebration of our interwoven-ness with all the other beings. Specifically focussing on lichen life here in west Wales, one of the richest lichen ecosystems in Europe and indeed the planet, we will walk, touch, peer at and co-respond with these organisms. We will consider what it is to be symbiotic and play with the possibilities of being together through ‘stretchy’ movement practices.
With movement artist Simon Whitehead, ecologist Yusef Samari and dance artist Stirling Steward.
In Tir: The Story of the Welsh Landscape by Carwyn Graves (2024;196), the author cites the possibility that ‘Wales, for its size, has the highest diversity of lichen species in the world.’ For Stretchy Symbionts we celebrate the Lichen life here in Pembrokeshire, the ways lichen bodies challenge ideas of individualism, foregrounding collaboration and exchange as modes of living and survival. These are ways of being together, that in the current geopolitical climate, can change our relationships to our lived environment, opening us to the knowledge carried and lived by lichens, organisms that are pre-human, ancient and cover more than 9% of the Earth’s surface. Stretchy Symbionts encourages interspecies listening and explores care as a reciprocal, stretchy medium of moving through a complex world together.
A Span Arts commission for ‘Love Stories to Nature’
FREE – AM DDIM
Archebu – Booking:
https://span-arts.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/873686695