Free, Family Summer Fun at Arnolfini

Throughout Summer there are a number of free, family-friendly activities and workshops at Arnolfini running alongside Forest: Wake this Ground, a major group exhibition celebrating what lies above and below the forest floor. 

Let’s Make Art, fun, friendly and fabulous creators in residence at Arnolfini, will be bringing a range of forest-themed activities every Tuesday and Wednesday in August, between 11am and 4pm. 

Thursdays in the same month, everyone is invited to create a clay sculpture inspired by nature. Each piece will go on to become part of Maria Nepomuceno’s Você me Alimenta – meaning you feed me – a specially commissioned gallery installation that is part of Forest: Wake this Ground.

There’s no need to book, with walk-ins welcomed.  Workshops are free and all materials are provided. There are donation points throughout the building, for anyone able to make a contribution, no matter how small. 

Forest: Wake this Ground includes artists, writers, filmmakers, and composers from across the globe: Rodrigo Arteaga, Mark Garry, Alma Heikkilä, Eva Jospin, Jumana Manna, Zakiya Mckenzie, David Nash, Maria Nepomuceno, John Newling, Rose Nguyen, Ben Rivers, Ai Weiwei, and Hildegard Westerkamp. It runs through to 2 October.

Like the forest floor, alive with sights and sounds, Forest: Wake this Ground is a visual and audio experience. Visitors are encouraged to pay attention to all their senses, with beanbags, yoga mats and benches throughout the galleries to allow them time to simply be in the spaces. The exhibition is accompanied by a sensory gallery guide, with words and poems by Bristol based author, Tjawangwa Dema, and visitors are welcome to share and create their own ‘forest tales’ responding to just some of the multiple languages, materials, and processes used by artists in the show.

Forest Facts and Finds is filled with things to help visitors explore the Forest: Wake this Ground exhibition, with prompts and questions around each artist, writer or filmmaker in the exhibition. Copies are available to pick up for free when visiting Arnolfini or to download via arnolfini.org.uk.

Forest: Wake this Ground also includes three artist films, suitable for all ages: 
•    Wild Relatives by Jumana Manna tells the fascinating story of the Arctic’s Svalbard Global Seed Vault. 

•    Mark Garry’s An Lucht Siúil (The Walking People) looks at the relationships between land, movement and ownership through richly intertwined songs sung in both English and Shelta (the language of Irish travellers). 

•    Ben Rivers’ Look Then Below shot beneath the Mendip hills and ancient woodland in Somerset looks to the future, journeying into a subterranean world.
All three films are screened throughout the day – please check arnolfini.org.uk for timings – and are free.

There are audio descriptions of the works in the Forest: Wake this Ground exhibition, featuring the contributing artists, accessible via QR Code in all the Galleries, or on Arnolfini’s Soundcloud, available via arnolfini.org.uk.

With so many elements to explore and enjoy around Forest: Wake this Ground, Arnolfini hope visitors can make the most of their visit to the exhibition.

Arnolfini, Bristol’s international centre of contemporary arts, is on the city’s harbourside, at 16 Narrow Quay. Entry to the galleries is always free and they are open Tuesday to Sunday, 11am to 6pm, each week.  

Everyone is welcome to spend some time in the Reading Room where there are art materials and table easels for those feeling creative. Arnolfini Bookshop stocks a variety of wonderful publications, for all ages, as well as gifts and cards. Arnolfini Café Bar is open daily from 9am, seven days a week, serving a delicious selection of cakes, ice cream and brunch throughout the day.