Walking as Drawing

Walking as Drawing

Spaces & Flows Conference: Amsterdam, NL 11.22.13



Here are the collected paths of participants in Amsterdam, NL from the Spaces & Flows Conference on 11.22.13. Thanks to everyone who took the time to walk. The group was from  nations all over the world, and from a variety of disciplines: architects, urban planners, designers, artists, and theorists. I really enjoyed the thoughtful and challenging questions during my session and it was great to see everyone engage in the project from the different perspectives of their research. 

Walking in Amsterdam is obviously controlled by canals and bridges. It started raining in the middle of the walk and I am sure that this affected some of the walks in interesting ways. Some said that they stuck with familiar pathways, others looked for a coffee shop to duck into. Several people took the opportunity to reach a green space such as the zoo or a park.



Local Project: Long Island City, NY: 9.21.13


Starting in front of PS1 in Long Island City, we walked for 30 minutes on Saturday 9.21.13 starting at 4:30 pm. Thanks to El Paper Magazine and Local Project!

I think it's interesting how the grid imposes itself on the paths, but the diagonals cut across that pattern. From the conversations I had with people, various factors influenced their walks from the wind (it was intense) to avoiding where they worked. One participant added rules to the project, following the color red through the streets. Check out Richard Alomar's amazing sketch blog here: http://nycsketch.blogspot.com/



Santa Cruz, Bolivia

I was invited to participate in an exhibition at Fundacion Simon I. Patino in Santa Cruz, Bolivia by Natalia Gonzalez Requena and Phil Hessler. The show was called Delineadores, and we all decided to make site-specific work for the show. It was an amazing experience.



The city is divided up in circular Anillos, or rings. There are at least 6 inner anillos. I thought this was interesting coming from DC where the beltway surrounds the city. I decided to make this a part of the walking project. I made the limits of the walk the first anillo, which worked out well since Patino is in the center of the city. Residents of Santa Cruz met at Fundacion Simon I. Patino and picked up maps. We walked for an hour around sunset.

I took the abstract lines of the collected paths and made a wall drawing with tape collected from local shops. Some of the tapes were shiny and caught the light of passing cars. This was in front of a window on a busy street.