Step to the Earth

As coastlines erode and floods escalate, how do we respond to a fast-changing world?

A short season of artworks, talks and workshops that explore our relationship with the land we live on through new forms of storytelling.

Step to the Earth stretches across Watershed from May to July, inviting you to tune into the pace of change we often miss – and the details of life on earth that are usually invisible to the human eye.

This season asks the question: How can artists help us grapple with the multiple challenges of our crisis-ridden present?

Previous exhibitions & events in this programme

Ear to the Ground

Step to the Earth

Please note: This event took place in July 2025

Event

This collection of audio works, curated by local sound maker and storyteller Christina Hardinge, explore time, landscape and the soil beneath our feet.

Only Expansion

Step to the Earth

Please note: This event took place in June 2025

Audio walk

An award-winning augmented audio walk – Only Expansion invites you to sonically experience how your own life might change in the future.

Stories We Tell: Only Expansion and the sound of the future

Step to the Earth

Please note: This event took place in May 2025

Event

The first in a series of public talks called Stories We Tell, this event celebrates the opening of Only Expansion, a visceral and poetic audio walk that reflects on what it means to live on a planet in crisis.

Seeing in a Different Dimension: Rapid Prototyping Session

Step to the Earth

Please note: This event took place in May 2025

Workshop

Alongside their exhibition, ScanLABs Projects are hosting a series of hands-on 3D scanning workshops. This workshop is in collaboration with XR Diversity Initiative (XRDI) and is for underrepresented creatives.

Seeing in a Different Dimension

Step to the Earth

A beautiful green forset with a pathway in the middle.

Please note: This event took place in May 2025

Workshop

Award-winning creative studio ScanLAB Projects are hosting a series of hands-on 3D scanning workshops which give you an opportunity to think in 3D and explore the growing role of digital imaging in art, science, and environmental storytelling.

FRAMERATE: Pulse of the Earth

Step to the Earth

Please note: This event took place in July 2025

Immersive Exhibition

Step into FRAMERATE: Pulse of the Earth, a visually stunning installation that reveals the hidden rhythms of our changing world by pioneering award-winning artists ScanLAB Projects. Taking over the whole of the Undershed gallery, this artwork uses both groundbreaking visuals and beautifully designed sound.

Four people take part in an immersive experience, they are wearing headphones and painting with watercolours. — Credit: Paul Blakemore

What is Undershed?

Undershed is a new gallery for showing the best immersive and interactive artwork from all over the world. The first of its kind in Bristol and rare across the UK – this dedicated space will stage themed exhibitions that change every few months.

Undershed is a place to come together and experiment with new forms of storytelling. Come on in, keep an open mind and tell us what you think.

Visiting Undershed for the first time

Undershed Gallery is located on the ground floor of Watershed – the entrance is to the right of the Box Office desk. If you haven't visited Watershed before, check out our Visit page for access, location and transport information.

Step to the Earth

Previous exhibitions & events in this programme

Ear to the Ground

Suitable only for adults

Only Expansion

Parental guidance

Stories We Tell: Only Expansion and the sound of the future

Seeing in a Different Dimension: Rapid Prototyping Session

Seeing in a Different Dimension

FRAMERATE: Pulse of the Earth

Parental guidance

What is Undershed?

Visiting Undershed for the first time

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