WALKING A LINE
extra-curricular workshop with JORGE MARQUES
WORKSHOP PROGRAM
Walking a line … updated Richard Long’s 1967 work A Line by Walking, when he was still a student. Long’s work expanded the idea of sculpture, giving it a performative and conceptual dimension. From his work with earth, rock, mud, stone, or other natural materials, content was extracted for drawing. Drawing had been rediscovered in many artistic practices as a vital process for material thinking and as a distinct artistic medium. Conceptually, drawing incorporated the material reality of the drawing itself and the speculative artifact, product, or construction that it prefigured. Experiencing a place by walking alone was different from doing so by drawing.
FULL GROUP PARTICIPATION
Pedagogical Approach — Fact Sheet
Workshop title: Walking a line…
Author/coordinator: Jorge Marques
Duration/time span: 3 hours
Walking a line…, explores the relationship between the body and landscape, inspired by Richard Long’s experience in the work A Line by Walking, 1967. In a broad sense, the walk and movement were used to create a drawing. More than a line, the action reflects the interaction between man and landscape. It is essentially about recognizing in certain marks the presence of the body. A body that is in place, that interacts with the place, that leaves marks and that from the place and in the place can review the entire experience.
Context and program
Materials and methodologies
Materials: sketchbook (A5), pencil or pen, (photography) in all exercises uses photography as a means of gathering information or as an aid for drawing.
Methodologies: The experience is organized into 3 exercises and one project.
(1) Exploration of movement: Explore the place, walk, run, jump, spin, crawl, roll, etc., As you move through the space, pay attention to the sensations and marks left in the landscape by the movement of the body. Drawings: After exploring movement, create drawings based on your movement experiences, Use the marks left by your body as a starting point, Draw directly on the marks, draw the marks in your sketchbook, photograph them…Draw from the photograph and describe them in words.
(2) Interaction with the environment: Collect objects that show signs of human interaction with the environment, it may include objects such as pieces of wood, cans or bottles, bags, or fragments of various materials… Drawings: Organize these materials into random groups, make observational drawings of the objects, use only the line as the graphic element of the drawing. Try to draw not only the physical appearance of the object but also the marks and textures that reveal its history and interaction with the environment.
(3) Drawing the landscape: Choose a place where you can see various marks of human presence in the landscape. Drawings: Make contour records of the landscape, and skyline, draw the contour of the dunes, rocks, vegetation, … do not explore details, only outline lines. Finally (4) with the material collected and with your drawings, think of a project that you can develop from this experience of the place. The place chosen was a beach with extensive sand.
The main questions arise from the relationship between body and landscape/body and nature (1) as testimony of a presence that designs; a presence that explores the place and at the same time leaves marks of this action, but also (2) what nature is designing and building from natural impacts and actions.
Key issues
Results and observations
The main results shift the field from drawing to performative experience. Drawing as a device for recognition and interaction with the place. The drawing that operates simultaneously with the body and with the marks that the body leaves. The drawing that simplifies these marks in the presence of the line. It is difficult to evaluate the effectiveness of the methodologies, as it leaves open the extent to which each participant wants to get involved in the exploratory process that the workshop promotes. Even so, the creation of a work plan allowed all participants a starting point, but did not determine an end point.
Roelstraete, Dieter (2010). Richard Long: A Line Made by Walking. One Work.
Careri, Francesco (2002/2014). Walkscapes: O Caminhar Como Prática Estética. Gustavo Gili.
References
(specific bibliography made available to students in advance)
Information provided and reviewed by each workshop coordinator. Content may be revised or updated.