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Bardo, The Feminist Library, Camden People's Theatre, Caroline SmithWhat is it to walk a line of uncertainty, to experience a bardo?

On 8 October the Feminist Library in London is running an audio walk to rediscover the lost words of women.

Guided by a Librarian and an Open Book the walkers will make their way along the foreshore of the Thames, into the romance of Theatreland, then the history of Bloomsbury.

Surprises, uncertainties, music and stories trace women’s London like never before.

Mirroring the real life, precarious situation at the Library, where its 40 year-old existence is under threat as it faces eviction at the end of October, and change is essential for its survival, Caroline Smith, the first Writer in Residence at the Feminist Library, explores ways in which writing is the starting point for departure, using the notion of the Bardo as a creative strategy.

‘Bardo’ is a Tibetan word that depicts being in a realm of transition.

Often it is assumed to be undesirable; not for the faint-hearted; full of uncertainty and unrest, suspended between life and death.

But this realm can fuel creativity. It can overturn the old and summon the new. As the past is ruptured, this in-between state can transform old ways of being. The new and the previously unimagined emerge.

Walkers will experience a bardo with a soundtrack of stories and sound, with live intervention in and between the library and the theatre; between archive and black box; between here and there.

Smith is a performer, artist and writer exploring disturbances between self and other, often by creating alter egos who has shown work at the Tate, ICA, Chelsea Theatre, Summerhall for Edinburgh Fringe and her sell-out chat show Louche Women ran at the Poetry Café for two years.

She is now moving towards collaborative, text-based works and B A R D O is part of this direction, working with visual artist Minna Haukka and sound artist Emma Thatcher.

The project is an interconnected audio walk and series of workshops inspired by Smith’s residency at the Feminist Library, and explores writing found and created at the Feminist Library in the realm of the Bardo.

The B A R D O audio walk on 8 October starts at 3.15pm at the Feminist Library in Waterloo, and ends at Camden People’s Theatre, approximately 3 miles later.

Please book tickets in advance via the Camden People’s Theatre website.

This event is part of Calm Down Dear, Camden People’s Theatre festival of innovative feminist performance. Browse that full programme here.

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