Threes

I am a walker by nature.... It's where I do most of my thinking... but I still have trouble thinking of it walking as art. I'm trying to be open to it... and hope that looking at the work of others will expand my thinking.

Walking is contemplative...Walking can be solitude. You can use it to walk away from your problems. You can use it to walk toward resolution.

I had an interesting conversation about walking with the Chaplain of the hospice program my brother was in and it lead me to realize that I often use walking as a means to escape my problems... She had mentioned that she spent an entire summer walking in her youth (it was some tremendous distance that I can no longer recall) but after a while, she realized that she was trying to distance her self from a problem in her life.

At that time, I was probably walking 2-3 hours a day.... If I wasn't at my brother's home, the yoga studio or making food to take to my family at my brother's, I was walking in the woods. It gave me something other than my thoughts to focus on.

As I look back, the other time in my life that I spent that much time walking was when I was about 16. My parents were getting a divorce (we didn't even know they were having problems) and I walked.... and walked and walked. And ever really thought about why I was walking (I did lose a bunch of weight so that made me super happy).

Walking is a meditation for me. And I am having trouble trying to translate that into an experience for others.

A few of the artists I have found that use walking are:

Vito Acconci

Vito Acconci created the Following Piece in 1969 by following a random stranger through NYC until they entered a private space of some sort.He did this every day for one month and created a photo series that reflected his action.

A little creepy in my mind. I would be a little weirded out by some guy following me until I went into a private space. If you think about all of the space we cover in a day that is "public", a person could be followed for quite some time. This totally just feeds in to my paranoia about being followed. 

Elastic City

Todd Shalom and company create curated walks that are "non-recorded journeys" and that patrons should "live as they happen."

"Elastic City artists work in a variety of disciplines, including poetry, urban design, dance, painting, architecture, photography, filmmaking, screen printing, sound art, theater and psychotherapy.

Each artist forms their walk/way in their own terms. Some map it out beforehand and then make changes. Others set out walking and then take notes. Most are adapting their talents to the walk format for the first time. For those offering "ways," they are pushing their craft through an experiential workshop whose limits are still undefined.

All of the artists are provocative in their questioning and rigorous in their design. Please click on their names for more info."

walkyourcity

While not necessarily and artist or collective, I came across walkyourcity.org and though it was interesting that people are getting involved in publicly placing signs to guide others. Users basically plan a walk and submit it to walkyourcity and they print and send you signs to put up in your area. Users are then able to scan qr codes and get directions to follow the signs.