Simon Pope’s interest in walking pervades much of his artistic output. Often describing an encounter with a particular landscape, his pieces also invite a dialogue with other people: either in the negotiation of the route itself, or in the exchange of other forms of shared experience. Acts of memory are a pivotal feature of this process, involving either the retracing of a journey or the recollection of an object or image that artist and participant have both seen previously.

In 2007 Film and Video Umbrella commissioned Simon Pope to make ‘The Memorial Walks’ for the group exhibition, ‘Waterlog’. The work itself furthered Pope’s interest in the notion of walking as an artistic and participatory pursuit. Both the exhibition and Pope’s work were accompanied by Film and Video Umbrella publications. In 2009, Film and Video Umbrella collaborated with Pope for a second time on his latest project ‘Memory Marathon’, an 80-minute film of a large-scale participative event in which Pope walked a specially planned 26-mile marathon route through the five London boroughs that will host the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Pope (born in Exeter, UK, 1966) has shown his work internationally, with notable exhibitions at Chapter, Cardiff; New Museum, New York; Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul; and Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh. He represented Wales at the Venice Biennale in 2003. Recent shows include ‘A Common Third’ at Danielle Arnaud, London and ‘Carved from Memory’ at Spacex, Exeter