Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast

In this episode of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast, we hear a layered soundscape of voices responding to fire and forest sparked by Tipping Point, a powerful artwork by internationally renowned artist Luke Jerram, presented by Fermynwoods Contemporary Art in September 2025 in Hazel and Thoroughsale Woods — the largest ancient urban woodland in the UK — at the heart of Corby town centre, Northamptonshire.
Originally conceived as a response to the escalating global wildfire crisis, Tipping Point simulated the terrifying realities of forest fires using immersive light, smoke and sound. Set within the woodland itself, the installation transformed a familiar local landscape into an unsettling and moving encounter with environmental breakdown.
Central to the work is a bespoke soundtrack by multi-award-winning composer Dan Jones, incorporating the crackling of burning trees, whirring chainsaws and fleeing animals, alongside ambient, melancholic music and deeply affecting global testimonies from people who have experienced wildfires first-hand. Dan was kind enough to share a selection of these sounds, which have been specially edited into this episode.
Woven through the episode are interviews with Luke Jerram and Fermynwoods Trustee and Climate Psychologist Siobhan Currie, alongside audio reflections recorded with visitors as they experienced the installation. Together, these voices explore how art can engage emotional, psychological and collective responses to the climate crisis, creating space for reflection, connection and action.
Headphones are recommended for the best listening experience.
If you have been moved by Tipping Point and want to take some positive environmental action, please consult the resources here.

In this episode of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast we hear from a trinity of voices - artist Tobias Zehntner, composer George Turvey, and curate Chad Chadwick - discussing place, community, spirituality and creation in relation to Tobias' Halo installation, shown at the Grade I listed Anglo Saxon, All Saints Church, Earls Barton in April 2025.
Originally commissioned in the Abbaye de la Cambre, Belgium, Halo features a suspended light installation that creates a moving interplay of light and shadow that illuminates the church’s architecture and forms halos above the audience.
Woven into these conversations are 6 new pieces of music composed by George in response to the artwork, portraying the arrival of light, new beginnings, and the recurring circle of notes in the music mimicking the hypnotic swinging of the installation.
These compositions originally accompanied the work for the Halo launch event in All Saints, Earls Barton.
Chad broadens the discussion with fascinating insights into the nature of play as a spiritual discipline.
The accompanying visual is a video response to the episode, by artist Sapphire Goss.
https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-30-halo

This episode of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast presents Ear for the Other - a sonic exploration of the importance of being receptive to, sensing, and feeling for 'the other', by Scottish artist Adrienne Murray.
The other is felt in all things outside of the realms of self: within and around space, in the things which space contains, and in the voice and dreams of others.
Adrienne writes that in opening yourself up to the other by simply being present and embodied within your environment, a more intuitive empathy for the vitality and poetry which surrounds us can be experienced.
Responding to the fragile relationship between immateriality and physical connection in the age of the digital, Adrienne hopes to provide respite from the numb and disconnected states of being brought on by the experience of being repeatedly exposed to vast amounts of information online.
Ear for the Other is followed by an enlightening conversation about her work.
https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-29-adrienne-murray/

Sarah Long's Tread softly because you tread on my dreams performs a fluid girlhood that invites the listener into the confidence of the autofictional character, Mary. She shares her strange visions in an effort to decipher their meanings. The work plays with the notion of the aisling, an Irish poetic genre where the nation appears to the poet in a dream in the form of a woman. Mary’s dreams offer a critique of inherited language and storytelling systems, while highlighting themes and motifs that reverberate throughout Irish culture such as the impact of colonialism, Celtic mythology and an affinity with the land.

https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-28-sarah-long/

This episode of the Fermynwoods Contemporary Art Podcast features Tread softly because you tread on my dreams, by Irish artist and writer Sarah Long. While the title carries a tongue-in-cheek tone, much like Sarah’s broader body of work, it also captures a quietly sparkling sentiment of love, light, and the intertwining of bygone pasts and potential futures.

Through its poetic and fluid narrative, this work invites listeners into the inner world of Mary, an autofictional character navigating her dreams and strange visions. Sarah deftly weaves these visions with the rich tradition of the aisling, an Irish poetic genre where the nation appears to the poet in a dream in the form of a woman.

Mary’s dreams offer a critique of inherited language and storytelling systems, while highlighting themes and motifs that reverberate throughout Irish culture such as the impact of colonialism, Celtic mythology and an affinity with the land.

Following the presentation of the work, Sarah engages in a fascinating discussion about her creative practice, inspirations, and the broader themes she explores in her work.

https://fermynwoods.org/fermynwoods-podcast-28-sarah-long/