A1 Way Affair
One of our great poetic journeys…
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TV documentary with website and live performance
– in development
A tongue-in-cheek journey designed to explore cultural identity through drawing attention to the everyday and helping us to become more mindful of our surroundings.
A1 Way Affair follows a comedian’s 10-date tour along Britain’s longest road from London to their final destination, re-enacting elements of his journey at the Edinburgh Festival. It charters his attempt to turn this (some would say) grim route into one of our great poetic journeys.
Visiting a variety of ubiquitous landmarks and talking to those who use and work the road, our traveller sets out to convince the world that the A1 can attain the same giddy cultural significance as America’s very own longest road: Route 66.
There are rich references to past traveller such as Paul Graham’s 1980s photographic series on The Great North Road. Along the way we have help from some of the artists who have been connected or inspired by the A1, such as sculptor Anthony Gormley whose Angel of the North stands beside it and Jethro Tull and Mark Knopfler who both sung about it.
Complementing the series will be a vibrant online community for the travelling public to upload their experiences, photos and videos of their journeys. This will allow us to re-configure the road in our own image and share it with our fellow travellers. Collectively we will accumulate the multitude of minor architectural and incidental elements that go to make up the A1 landscape and tell its story…
This comedic call to arms takes a lightheated look at what brings about cultural significance from the extraordinary to the banal.