DLWP x Flatland Curatorial Fellow Harry Leek Launches Mooching Studies
The last recipient of the DLWP X FLATLAND Curatorial Fellowship, Harry Leek, has a new audio project titled Mooching Studies… which was as developed as part of a curatorial fellowship.
Mooching Studies…
Mooching Studies… is an evolving series of audio interviews and walking conversations with artists, set against shifting landscapes. Drawing from intuitive ways of moving through a place, these recorded mooches explore how locality, memory, and artistic practice intersect.
To mooch is to move without urgency, to follow curiosity rather than a fixed route. It’s a practice of slow observation, of letting an environment shape thought and dialogue. Exploring the concept of drifting, combined with the immersive audio.
Each study consists of a recorded ‘Mooch’ – a walk and talk with between curator and artist, reflecting on artistic practice, moments of personal memory, shifts in urban developments and landscapes, and the ways artists contribute to and are shaped by the places they move through. Accompanied by field recordings and images, each study is available as a participatory audio experience.
The first episode follows artist Richard Lockett as we explore the subtle ways a place can alter us—how walking, repetition, and everyday movements shape our thinking. Moving through Bexhill, Richard reflects on the shifts that occur when you immerse yourself in a landscape, and how place influences the way we make work.
This series is an invitation to drift, to listen, and to engage with surroundings in new ways.
Listening Instructions
This episode features a walk taken with artist Richard Lockett on December 6, 2024. The actual walk lasted 1 hour and 2 minutes, covering 4.56km, whereas the audio piece is approximately 14 minutes long.
As you follow the route, the audio will guide you with verbal instructions, but the walking time and the episode length do not sync up. You may need to pause the recording at certain points to walk between locations or spend time observing your surroundings before continuing. Move at your own pace, allowing time to absorb the environment as Richard and I discuss the subtleties of place, movement, and creative thought.
About
Mooching Studies was developed as part of a curatorial fellowship at Flatland Projects and the De La Warr Pavilion. Harry Leek’s curatorial practice is rooted in exploring alternative forms of exhibition-making, artist development, and the social spaces where art intersects with daily life. This project emerged from a desire to move beyond the gallery—into the streets, along the coast, and through the everyday landscapes that shape artistic thought.
Walking with artists as a format to allows for a slower, more meandering kind of conversation—one where the environment becomes a contributor.
Posted by Daisy Jerome on Tuesday 20 May 2025