Book Review - The Art of Walking

Paul Allender on David Evans’ The Art of Walking: A Field Guide

by PlastiCités

As someone who has walked regularly since being a child, I initially approached this book with some scepticism. Walking as art? Yet another attempt by the cunning contemporary conceptual artist to re-appropriate everyday life as art, I thought.

However I soon got over this – the book is full of so many different ways of looking at and thinking and talking about walking that it drew me in. First impression highlights were an illustrated Norwegian map entitled Searching for Ludwig Wittgenstein, Regina José Galindo’s bloody footprints in Guatemala City, Bruce Nauman’s Slow Angle Walk, Jeremy Deller’s Manchester procession and Sophy Rickett’s photographs of women pissing in male postures in London streets. A definite lowlight for me was Franko B’s I Miss You - but I never could see the point of that performance.

So, on to a slightly more considered view of the book’s content. I love the old-fashioned feel of the first 7 pages – Peter Liversidge’s very familiar typewriter-written pithy proposals. And his suggestion, adopted by the editor, of having 5 empty pages at the back of the book for readers’ notes is lovely.

This book is comprehensive. It is divided into 7 sections: Footprints and Lines, Writers and Philosophers, Marches and Processions, Aliens, Dandies and Drifters, Slapstick, Studios, Museums and Biennales and Dog Walkers. One of the quite elusive and intangible ways in which I like or don’t like or feel indifferent about books is their ‘feel’. This one definitely has a good feel. It combines photographs, texts, drawings, newspaper clippings, maps, diagrams and artworks in a way which resembles a meandering walk on a day when there is no pressure to get there.

I was lucky to see an exhibition of Regina José Galindo’s Who Can Erase The Traces? Its inclusion in this book brought back the memory of seeing the film of her walking the streets of Guatemala City barefoot and stopping every now and then to step into a basin filled with blood so that she leaves a trail of bloody footprints, representing the thousands of civilians murdered by the army over decades. It is a very powerful performance.

I don’t know that much about Bruce Nauman’s work but Slow Angle Walk (Beckett Walk) of 1968 has whetted my appetite for more. He writes: “If you see yourself as an artist and you function in a studio and you’re not a painter…if you don’t start out with some canvas, you do all kinds of things-you sit in a chair or pace around.” The black and white photograph is a beautiful blurred image of him doing just that, walking in a studio in a posture of angles.

Jeremy Deller’s Procession combines processors from different walks of life in Manchester: Scout and Guide marching bands; former mill workers; dancers; players of exotic instruments; mobile libraries; Stretford Rose Queens; the Ramblers Association; Gay City Strollers; mascots from all of the local football teams; The Unrepentant Smokers and many others, all brought together to celebrate the ‘strange glory’ of Manchester. I wish I had been there.

There is no written commentary on the three black and white photographs of women hitching up their skirts and pissing like men, their knees bent, in the streets of London by Sophy Rickett in 1995. They are simply entitled Old Street, Vauxhall Bridge and Silvertown and are strangely seductive while opening up so many questions: why are they doing it?; how are they doing it?; are the pictures a comment on the City and its buildings, symbolic of financial capital, or on the behaviour of men in the streets or both or neither? They are fascinating, enigmatic pictures which open up a space for thought and discussion.

Finally, for this review, Richard Long’s famous A Line Made by Walking of 1969 is treated as slapstick by the curator Dieter Roelstraete in 2010. He associates it with the deadpan ‘dumb’ humour of Samuel Beckett and Buster Keaton. Interesting.

The Art Of Walking, a field guide is a great book. Great to dip into and great to read and great to look at the pictures. If you like walking and art and you can afford the price, £16.95, buy it.

Paul Allender, 2013.

The-Art-of-Walking-Dave-Evans

David Evans (2013), The Art of Walking: A Field Guide. Black Dog Publishing: London, £16.95

Buy The Art of Walking here.



PlastiCités
June 16, 2013 at 6:32 pm
Categories: reviews, walks
URL: http://wp.me/p1xq8w-Cn

my best painting yet - trees

Some more pictures

More to follow very soon...

focus

on - derrida - for my DPR talk in April - I think it's in April. Painting, lots of it and fun with it.
Continue to 'study' Basquiat. What else - smartening up a bit!

Here's a picture -

spark

I need a new spark - I've been needing one for sometime, as regards the performance work. The visual art and Parson Cross is going well, I think. It's 2013 tomorrow. Maybe push it without the spark...

Celebrations

Within 6 days of each other, I got a job teaching in the School of Education and got the Action Research bursary scheme gig on Parson X!!!

 Some of my new and lovely colleagues.

Hillsborough - the disaster

 

It's got worse - SWFC didn't make enough changes aftter the 1981 crush at a Spurs v Wolves semi - because they were too expensive. 96 people died. Wednesday need to say and do some things - big things.

A Massive cover-up at Hillsborough

I've always suspected that SWFC, the police and the emergency services had some culpability for the Hillsborough disaster in 1989. Now we know the extent of this and the political involvement too. A terrible, terrible time and one that SWFC needs to face up to and address. As a Wednesday fan, I would like to say how much I support all the hard work of the Liverpool families who have fought for this day. You probably have felt that you have walked alone some of the time, but not any more. Thank You.

Things are really good

They are! Not getting the SPS Director job at TILL has lifted a cloud from me that has been there for at least 9 months.

Brilliant, amazing!

I'll make a more considered post very soon - promise!!

Some good things are happening

These words from Tim Etchells I  read on Thursday: "Reading the materials these days you’d know that art is about celebrating, bringing together, and affirming. You’d know that its about creative self-expression.  It’s harder somehow  to find reference to things like the fact that the arts might challenge, provoke or disturb.  It’s hard to find an emphasis on things like difficulty, difference, division or dissent."
And then looking at my book on jean michel basquiat on Friday and getting very excited about his pictures for the first time. I think I was merely excited when I very first saw them. Now they seem to represent a way forward for me.

I thought all Africans...

I thought all Africans were supposed to be good runners
1. I think the white old man intended it as a supportive comment.
2. Assumption – that all Africans are supposed to be good runners – where does it come from?
3. Assumption – that the black runner (who was walking) is African!
4. The idea that it might be a supportive comment – when the runner had already run around 9-10 miles! And was walking cos he was very tired!
5. Assumption – that it was ok for the white old man to voice this idea.
6. How did the black runner/walker feel about it…?
7. It was said in a working class Sheffield accent.
8. Ignorance??
9. Or something else?
I thought all Africans were supposed to be good runners
I was running in the Sheffield half-marathon, for the first time. I have never run long distances before and was very pleased with myself that I was getting towards the end of this run – the longest I had ever done. I had noticed various people that seemed to be running at a similar pace to me, even though they weren’t always visible. One of these was a black guy – quite a bit younger than me and fit-looking and wearing a basketball shirt. Around the 10 mile mark, I saw him ahead – he was walking. Lots of runners did this throughout the run. I guess that I think that they didn’t train properly but this is of no matter. It could well be that the black guy had just started walking for the first time and soon started running again – but all of this is speculation.
As I approached him on a bridge (we had now entered a one-time industrial area of Sheffield and the bridge was very reminiscent of the type I knew from my childhood) an old white man (possibly wearing a cloth cap also reminding me of my childhood) shouted to the black guy: “I thought all Africans were supposed to be good runners.”  I was both shocked and unsurprised by this comment. Shocked at its insensitivity – apart from all of the huge assumptions being made by the old white man, which I’ll come back to soon – the runner had already run 10 miles and, no doubt, was feeling tired and taking a break.
Before we go any further, I am absolutely convinced that the old white man intended his comment to be supportive. I think I am familiar enough with white working class culture to be very sure of this. I think he was, in his head, saying: “Run like you can – like all you Africans can.” He was, ironically, praising the black runner. This is part of the unsurprising part. But I could be wrong. It’s is very possible that I don’t know enough about working class culture to ‘know’ this.
I’ll return to the other part of the unsurprising part later.
I overtook him and spent the next period thinking about what I had just experienced. Running long distances is good for this – it provides lots of opportunities for reflection.   Here is what I came up with:
Assumption 1 – that all Africans are supposed to be good runners.  Maybe, the old white man has watched lots of African runners on TV? The famous Ethiopian runner - Haile Gebrselassie – was the epitome of this – running in bare feet and running for his life. All Africans are good runners aren’t they? Look at him run.
With a population of around 1 billion people, Africa is going to throw up some good runners. But name me some other famous African runners. I was struggling and running to Wikipedia before long. The most famous runner in the world at the moment is Usain Bolt and he is Jamaican. Michael Johnson is American and Linford Christie is British. What these all have in common, and with the half-marathon runner/walker, is that they are black. And all black people are descended from Africa – so the old white man shouting on the bridge in Sheffield wasn’t completely wrong… was he?
Assumption 2 – already touched upon above, that the black runner was African. While all black people do indeed descend from Africa, for most of them their descendants’ departure from that continent was so long ago as to make the label ‘African’ being applied to them meaningless. For the white old man on the bridge, black meant African. Is this ridiculous? The label ‘African-American’ is preferred by some black people in the USA. And Mumia Abu-Jamal labels himself and other black people as ‘African’(?). But, ‘African’? For all black people?
Assumption 3 – that it was o.k. for the white old man to shout this to the black runner/walker. Because, I believe, the white old man saw it as supportive. But, how could he perceive it to be so? The black man had already run 10 miles. But the white old man maybe didn’t know that – he maybe didn’t know the race course. But, does this excuse his comment? It is possible that the comment was either implicitly (but not deliberate) or explicitly racist.
The idea that the old man’s comment was based upon’ ignorance’ is an unsurprising one and one that is often heard in certain circles. But was the comment based upon ignorance? Who are we - white, middle class, university-educated citizens – to say that the old white man is ignorant? He almost certainly will know lots of things about lots of things that I, and probably we, don’t know that much about. Maybe he knows something about cutlery or steel production or engineering? He will almost certainly know a lot about Sheffield geography and culture. Maybe he knows something about families and parenthood. Or, maybe he is a fluent Mandarin speaker or a physicist or artist or dental surgeon? To use the term ‘ignorance’ based upon his comment to the black runner is misleading and inaccurate.

So, I am going to try to start taking this blog seriously and writing it for people to read rather than my diary.It will be my blog! Let's see how it goes...

LOSS

sick

I am trying to do too much and have made myself a little ill - all day in bed today.

a lot to think about

Well I got the Parson X gig and I love being back on my old estate.
A far cry from 35 years ago when I left it.

I've been busy juggling Other Things, the Parson X stuff, GRAFT, work for the Institute for Lifelong Learning at Sheffield University, the Open University, counselling and we have a new student from Freeman College coming to live with us from tomorrow - so al the many preparations for that.

See you soon.

my images sent to yorkshire artspace

for the parson cross commission - fingers crossed! xx

yup

Things to write about on here:
Quarantine artists support group - GRAFT
Derrida and Ulmer.
Performance based on the performer's own lives - Other Things.
Living with no money at all.
I thought that Africans were....
Being an artist.

Stuff

Quarantine artists's support group.
RC - specifically Mental Health Liberation workshop.
Job with OU.
More work with TILL.

Good night. x

I thought all Africans...on-going writing....

I thought all Africans were supposed to be good runners
I was running in the Sheffield half-marathon, for the first time. I have never run long distances before and was very pleased with myself that I was getting towards the end of this run – the longest I had ever done. I had noticed various people that seemed to be running at a similar pace to me, even though they weren’t always visible. One of these was a black guy – quite a bit younger than me and fit-looking and wearing a basketball shirt. Around the 10 mile mark, I saw him ahead – he was walking. Lots of runners did this throughout the run. I guess that I think that they didn’t train properly but this is of no matter. It could well be that the black guy had just started walking for the first time and soon started running again – but all of this is speculation.
As I approached him on a bridge (we had now entered a one-time industrial area of Sheffield and the bridge was very reminiscent of the type I knew from my childhood) an old white man (possibly wearing a cloth cap also reminding me of my childhood) shouted to the black guy: “I thought all Africans were supposed to be good runners.” I was both shocked and unsurprised by this comment. Shocked at its insensitivity – apart from all of the huge assumptions being made by the old white man, which I’ll come back to soon – the runner had already run 10 miles and, no doubt, was feeling tired and taking a break.
Before we go any further, I am absolutely convinced that the old white man intended his comment to be supportive. I think I am familiar enough with white working class culture to be very sure of this. I think he was, in his head, saying: “Run like you can – like all you Africans can.” He was, ironically, praising the black runner. This is part of the unsurprising part. But I could be wrong. It’s is very possible that I don’t know enough about working class culture to ‘know’ this.
I’ll return to the other part of the unsurprising part later.
I overtook him and spent the next period thinking about what I had just experienced. Running long distances is good for this – it provides lots of opportunities for reflection. Here is what I came up with:
Assumption 1 – that all Africans are supposed to be good runners. Maybe, the old white man has watched lots of African runners on TV? The famous Ethiopian runner - Haile Gebrselassie – was the epitome of this – running in bare feet and running for his life. All Africans are good runners aren’t they? Look at him run.
With a population of around 1 billion people, Africa is going to throw up some good runners. But name me some other famous African runners. I was struggling and running to Wikipedia before long. The most famous runner in the world at the moment is Usain Bolt and he is Jamaican. Michael Johnson is American and Linford Christie is British. What these all have in common, and with the half-marathon runner/walker, is that they are black. And all black people are descended from Africa – so the old white man shouting on the bridge in Sheffield wasn’t completely wrong was he?
Assumption 2 – already touched upon above, that the black runner was African. While all black people do indeed descend from Africa, for most of them their descendants’ departure from that continent was so long ago as to make the label ‘African’ being applied to them meaningless. For the white old man on the bridge, black meant African. Is this ridiculous? The label ‘African-American’ is preferred by some black people in the USA. And Mumia Abu-Jamal labels himself and other black people as ‘African’(?). But, ‘African’? For all black people?
Assumption 3 – that it was o.k. for the white old man to shout this to the black runner/walker. Because, I believe, the white old man saw it as supportive. But, how could he perceive it to be so? The black man had already run 10 miles. But the white old man maybe didn’t know that – he maybe didn’t know the race course. But, does this excuse his comment? It is possible that the comment was either implicitly (but not deliberate) or explicitly racist.

The idea that the old man’s comment was based upon’ ignorance’ is an unsurprising one and one that is often heard in certain circles. But was the comment based upon ignorance? Who are we - white, middle class, university-educated citizens – to say that the old white man is ignorant? He almost certainly will know lots of things about lots of things that I, and probably we, don’t know that much about. Maybe he knows something about cutlery or steel production or engineering? He will almost certainly know a lot about Sheffield geography and culture. Maybe he knows something about families and parenthood. Or, maybe he is a fluent Mandarin speaker or a physicist or artist or dental surgeon? To use the term ‘ignorance’ based upon his comment to the black runner is misleading and inaccurate. (AND ignorant?)

1. I think the white old man intended it as a supportive comment.
2. Assumption – that all Africans are supposed to be good runners – where does it come from?
3. Assumption – that the black runner (who was walking) is African!
4. The idea that it might be a supportive comment – when the runner had already run around 9-10 miles! And was walking cos he was very tired!
5. Assumption – that it was ok for the white old man to voice this idea.
6. How did the black runner/walker feel about it…?
7. It was said in a working class Sheffield accent.
8. Ignorance??
9. Or something else?

Sheffield half-marathon

I did it! In 2 hours and 30 mins - which was my aim.

Here is some photographic evidence...