EXHIBITION: The Visitors by Lewis Hetherington

Saturday 30 May, from 12pm: Berwick Town Centre

Sunday 31 May, from 12pm: Spittal Promenade

A new piece of live performance will unfold across Berwick and Spittal at the end of May, as artist Lewis Hetherington presents The Visitors – a striking and unexpected work, inspired by Berwick’s ecology and heritage, set in the public realm.

Audiences are invited to encounter The Visitors on Saturday, 30 May in Berwick Town Centre from 12 pm, and Sunday, 31 May on Spittal Promenade from 12 pm, where a procession will appear and move through the landscape, playfully interrupting the everyday.

Developed as part of the Living Barracks engagement programme, Berwick Shines, and produced by The Maltings, The Visitors is rooted in research into Berwick’s heritage, landscape and natural environment. The programme invites artists to spend time in the town, responding to its stories, surroundings and ecological character through new work.

In the lead-up to the performance weekend, the commission has been developed in close collaboration with the local community, including the Maltings Youth Theatre, community groups at Maltings Hide Hill, and schools across Berwick, Spittal and Tweedmouth. Through these sessions, participants have played an active role in shaping the work – contributing ideas, materials and creative responses that are woven into the final piece.

Lewis Hetherington said:

“The Visitors asks what happens when we think about all the other creatures who share this place with us – what might they be thinking or feeling as they watch us from the river or the sea? Berwick has this incredible location where you’re so often looking outwards. I’m excited by what happens when we shift that perspective – when we begin to imagine being looked back at – and gain a renewed sense of this extraordinary and beautiful world that we live in.”