Earth-Stepper
A virtual landscape unfolding as a folk fable.
David John Scarborough
6 March - 7 June 2026
Free, Online
Presented online with Fermynwoods Contemporary Art, David John Scarborough’s digital installation follows a mythic family and a host of animal voices on a pilgrim’s journey through ecology, kinship, and burial. Staged across videoworks, soundtracks and virtual worlds, Earth-Stepper presents a series of digital dioramas informed by personal loss and climate renewal. The exhibition considers virtual space not as a site of escapism, but as a place of lament and reconnection in which to imagine an inclusive, alternative British folk tradition. David presents an interactive virtual reality world that invites audiences on a mythopoetic journey.
The world is composed of wetlands, gardens and burial mounds housing texts and sounds that take shape as guests navigate through space. Stemming from a folktale with contemporary resonance, the story follows a mother and son as they carry a father’s body back to his homeland. Unable to enter, they bury him outside the gates with three seeds in his mouth, from which a forest grows. The story branches out through songs and screens, invoking videogame walkthroughs and electronic folk tunes. Across the digital installation, beetles rejoice, butterflies grieve and rabbits tell tales, rekindling the Old English wordhoard — a shared reservoir of story and song, carried forward by the community.