Walking/Art

I distinguish walking from art, but not as things that are simply opposed. In all kinds of ways the two activities – the two discursive fields – intersect. They both offer the promise of freedom. They both enable a space of reflection (and non-reflection). They both entail systems of self-enforced rules. These dimensions of affinity are probably what leads me to link them together. Yet, as I say, the two also retain a sense of distinct identity. My walking can make do without any thought of art and my art can make do without any thought of walking. Worth noting, however, that in this instance art makes the initial approach. It appears as the slightly more interested party, the occasionally awkward addition and the relatively inoffensive parasite. Here the aim is not to lay aesthetic claim to walking, but rather to find a place alongside it – partly within it, but never absolutely. The tension, the game, lies precisely in discovering a close but non-abrasive relation. None of this, strangely, demands a simple and clear demarcation of the proper space and inviolable limits of either art or walking, but it does depend upon a demonstration of mutual care and respect. Above all there can be no subsumptive maneouvres on either side. They two practices are multiplexed, not merged.