Riley Gunderson
Core Studio: 2D
Anne Gaines
September 1, 2019
“The Shape of a Walk” Reflection
I really enjoyed this reading and found it very interesting and informative. As an Art and Design History minor, I appreciated the references to different paintings and artists throughout the text as well. I thought that the artist had a lot of really well-articulated ideas throughout the chapter as well that put into words thoughts I have considered in the past. One idea that really stood out to me, and that is very encompassing of the idea of “walking as an artist,” is that such a mundane act such as walking could conjure up so much conceptual and intellectual experiments and give insight into human understanding.
I do think that there are differences in experience when it comes to walking in an urban environment like New York City to walking around rural and natural landscapes. Most of the text seemed to focus on walking as an artist in rural and secluded spaces, where the artists connected to the earth they were walking on in spiritual and emotional ways. I find that based off the few walks I have been on, I tend to focus more on what I am hearing and seeing around me rather than what I am personally feeling, whether that be physical or mental. This is probably due to the abundance of stimuli that is encountered whilst walking around downtown New York City. I want to challenge myself the next walk that I go on to try to focus on myself and my experience of the walk, rather than what I am encountering around me during the walk. This will most likely be very different as to how I have approached my past walks for this assignment, but I think that it could be interesting to compare and contrast the experiences in each mindset.
The notion of “the Chinese tradition of the ‘four dignities’– Standing, Lying, Sitting, and Walking” (p. 273) was very intriguing to me as well. These are the four states in which humans are allowed to fully be ourselves. I think there is definitely some truth in that statement. I think that these dignities all allow for a certain amount of self-reflection that isn’t easily accessible in other states of being, probably because they require little conscious thought in order to stay in the position. These positions are all very innate, from very young ages humans are able to stand, walk, lie down, and sit. It could also be argued that a factor is if you focus your attention on something active, like running for example, part of your energy is put into that action and therefore can’t be used on yourself.
I was surprised as to how much the reading focused on performance artists specifically. I do wish it spent more time discussing walks that have informed 2-dimensional art, rather than performances and their documentations. I had never considered the culture of walking and how it has shifted over time, and in America specifically. I have only ever experienced walking as a choice in my lifetime, being born well after the Industrial Revolution and in an age of technology and the internet. I have also lived in the suburbs for a majority of my life, so driving was the primary source of transportation, and walks were more of a relaxing activity that one would consciously make the decision to go on. The idea that, “walking ceased to be a part of the continuum of experience and instead became something consciously chosen,” (p. 267) is something that I have never really thought about until now, but that I have experienced most of my life.
I fully agree with the idea that walking as art is important today, especially. Walking can be “assurance that a primeval purity of bodily encounter with the earth is still possible and that the human presence so crowded and dominating elsewhere is still small when measured against the immensity of lonely places” (p. 275-276). We live in such a fast-paced society, especially in New York City, a place filled with so many people and events and stimuli, that it can be hard to feel attached to the universe, to earth itself. Walking, and being conscious while doing so, can be an escape as well as an outlet into higher purpose and understanding. What questions can be answered through walking? What questions can be asked? How do our senses perceive as we are walking, what changes when one or more of those senses is inhibited or distracted? Do we experience walking differently when alone versus when walking alongside others? How does our mental state change while walking or affect our experiences during a walk? Can you mimic the rural walking experience in an urban environment? I hope to address all of these questions and more during my daily walks for this assignment.
