THE WISDOM OF THE DESERT (Info only: no booking required)
The Red Tower, York, YO1 9UJ
Saturday 7th November 2026 6:00PM
The Wisdom of the Desert
Film, sound and sculpture by No Spinoza and Nick Walters
The Red Tower Foss Islands Road, York, YO1 9UJ
7 November 2026, 6-9pm
8 November 2026, 1-4pm
FREE ADMISSION, NO BOOKING REQUIRED
Navigators Art brings together two multimedia artists for a special exhibition of film, sound and sculpture in the unique setting of York’s historic Red Tower, promising a feast for the senses.
No Spinoza (Thomas Pearson) and Nick Walters share an interest in the symbolism of found materials and the mystical traditions of the wilderness. Bringing together a range of new work, they will create an immersive, provocative, multi-sensory experience.
Honey has long been revered by ancient desert cultures as a life-giving substance, associated with ideas of rebirth and immortality. Famously, Saint John the Baptist is said to have survived alone on a diet of wild honey and locusts. Walters’ Honey Dipper (2026) passes electrical current through the material to create mysterious and ever-changing textures of sound. Ex-voto (2026), a series of small sculptures set in niches in the tower walls, alludes to beeswax votive statues placed in shrines as a gesture of gratitude and devotion.
No Spinoza presents Jupiter’s Great Hurricane (2026), a cycle of experimental music and film broadly exploring themes of temptation, progress and inheritance. Various references are made to desert spirituality – including the words of Saint Anthony the Great, the father of Christian monasticism. The work broadens out to consider blood, stars, sub-atomic particles, and the geopolitical importance of oil. The videos accompany an album of music and a book of essays which will be available to buy at the exhibition.
Thomas Pearson (No Spinoza) is an artist from the north-east of England. His work spans music, poetry and film, linked by themes including folklore, industrial heritage, and postmodernism in art and architecture. He has exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts (2018) and the National Poetry Library (2023) and created a large-scale solo poetry/sculpture installation in the marshland of RSPB Saltholme, Middlesbrough (2019). He is a widely published writer and was longlisted for the 2025 National Poetry Competition. His music has been featured on BBC 6 Music and live in session on BBC York.
https://nospinoza.co.uk/
http://www.instagram.com/nospinoza
Nick Walters is a mixed media artist based in York. He combines recycled materials and found objects with technology to create interactive and immersive projects, installations and sculptures. Recent exhibitions include Soundscaping (2026) at the National Centre for Early Music in York and at Greenbelt Festival, and HOPE: Shadow and Light (2023) at the Bar Convent Chapel in York, in partnership with York arts charity New Visuality.
For the city's 2024 Trailblazers project he designed Navigators Art's memorial sculpture to York poet W. H. Auden, which stands permanently outside the Council's West Offices.
https://www.instagram.com/kookybunkering/
The Red Tower is situated on York’s medieval City Wall to the east of the city centre. It originally dates from 1490, although the present building was heavily restored in the Victorian period. It was originally built as a watchtower that formed part of the city defences of York, when the area to the north was a flooded lake known as the King’s Fishpool. Today it is a community hub run by a charity.
https://redtoweryork.org.uk/
Film, sound and sculpture by No Spinoza and Nick Walters
The Red Tower Foss Islands Road, York, YO1 9UJ
7 November 2026, 6-9pm
8 November 2026, 1-4pm
FREE ADMISSION, NO BOOKING REQUIRED
Navigators Art brings together two multimedia artists for a special exhibition of film, sound and sculpture in the unique setting of York’s historic Red Tower, promising a feast for the senses.
No Spinoza (Thomas Pearson) and Nick Walters share an interest in the symbolism of found materials and the mystical traditions of the wilderness. Bringing together a range of new work, they will create an immersive, provocative, multi-sensory experience.
Honey has long been revered by ancient desert cultures as a life-giving substance, associated with ideas of rebirth and immortality. Famously, Saint John the Baptist is said to have survived alone on a diet of wild honey and locusts. Walters’ Honey Dipper (2026) passes electrical current through the material to create mysterious and ever-changing textures of sound. Ex-voto (2026), a series of small sculptures set in niches in the tower walls, alludes to beeswax votive statues placed in shrines as a gesture of gratitude and devotion.
No Spinoza presents Jupiter’s Great Hurricane (2026), a cycle of experimental music and film broadly exploring themes of temptation, progress and inheritance. Various references are made to desert spirituality – including the words of Saint Anthony the Great, the father of Christian monasticism. The work broadens out to consider blood, stars, sub-atomic particles, and the geopolitical importance of oil. The videos accompany an album of music and a book of essays which will be available to buy at the exhibition.
Thomas Pearson (No Spinoza) is an artist from the north-east of England. His work spans music, poetry and film, linked by themes including folklore, industrial heritage, and postmodernism in art and architecture. He has exhibited at the Royal Academy of Arts (2018) and the National Poetry Library (2023) and created a large-scale solo poetry/sculpture installation in the marshland of RSPB Saltholme, Middlesbrough (2019). He is a widely published writer and was longlisted for the 2025 National Poetry Competition. His music has been featured on BBC 6 Music and live in session on BBC York.
https://nospinoza.co.uk/
http://www.instagram.com/nospinoza
Nick Walters is a mixed media artist based in York. He combines recycled materials and found objects with technology to create interactive and immersive projects, installations and sculptures. Recent exhibitions include Soundscaping (2026) at the National Centre for Early Music in York and at Greenbelt Festival, and HOPE: Shadow and Light (2023) at the Bar Convent Chapel in York, in partnership with York arts charity New Visuality.
For the city's 2024 Trailblazers project he designed Navigators Art's memorial sculpture to York poet W. H. Auden, which stands permanently outside the Council's West Offices.
https://www.instagram.com/kookybunkering/
The Red Tower is situated on York’s medieval City Wall to the east of the city centre. It originally dates from 1490, although the present building was heavily restored in the Victorian period. It was originally built as a watchtower that formed part of the city defences of York, when the area to the north was a flooded lake known as the King’s Fishpool. Today it is a community hub run by a charity.
https://redtoweryork.org.uk/
Event Details
From Sat 7 Nov 2026, 6:00PM to Sun 8 Nov 2026, 4:00PM
