No choice but to walk
When we think about walking as artistic practice, we tend to imagine it from a position of choice. The flâneur drifts. The land artist marks territory. The pilgrim seeks. Walking, in the Western art tradition, is something of a luxury, a slowing down to pay attention, for those with the time and freedom to do so.
But for some artists walking is a form of witness and resistance, inextricably linked with the political realities of our time. Francis Alÿs walked the 1948 ceasefire line in Jerusalem in The Green Line (2004), trailing a leaking can of green paint through one of the world's most contested territories. The French-Tunisian artist Ridha Dhib walked over 5,000 km from Paris to Mardin on the Syrian border, retracing in reverse the Balkan route taken by many refugees. (Ex-Tracés, 2022).
The arts constellation Gigacircus work along the US-Mexico border, creating work that lives inside the reality of migration rather than representing it from a distance. And then there is Little Amal, the 3.5-metre puppet of a Syrian refugee child who has walked through 18 countries, her presence alone a form of advocacy. Or Slow Marathon (2018), a collaboration between artists in Gaza and Scotland, in which the limited terrain of the Palestinian participant became the work itself.
For these artists, walking is not merely recreational. It is an embodied act to illuminate the crises and displacements of our time.
Right now, millions of people have been forced to leave their homes due to conflict in the Middle East. This April, the World Trails Network offers a response. Walk with Lebanon: Mountains of Hope invites people everywhere to walk in solidarity with the 27 communities along the 450km Lebanon Mountain Trail, who, over the past year, helped create a series of hand-painted silk flags. The planned thru-hike can no longer go ahead as the route has become a major corridor for refugees. From 3 April to 3 May, you can walk alongside them, wherever you are. Find out more and sign up to participate here: Lebanon Mountain Trail.
Some walks leave flags, footprints, even braille. Others leave books. On Wednesday 15 April, Berlin-based artist collective ReRouting will present their first book on Walking Notations - sign up for the event and a receive a special attendees discount.
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Writer, walker, digital storyteller, psychogeographer
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Supported by:
Placecloud
Researchers use Placecloud to mark sites of significance with short podcasts.
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Do not miss this!
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In association with the Arts & Culture Task Force of the World Trails Network, we are running a six month series of monthly online meetings with academic researchers, thought leaders, trail professionals and walking artists to investigate pilgrimage today. Beginning in March, and to run on the first Tuesday of subseque... Keep reading
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March 2026 we are holding 3 online Map Scrambles, in which artists will be discussing when and why they use maps or mapping to document their walking art. Map Scramble 1 (Monday 23 7pm GMT) Map Scramble 2 (Wednesday 25 7pm GMT) Map Scramble 3 (Thursday 26 7pm GMT) Each events part of the Keep reading
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South Lebanon has been under attack from Israel displacing thousands of families now fleeing north for refuge. It is no longer possible or appropriate to continue the plan to walk the Lebanon Mountain Trail in April. However, Kinetika and Lebanon Mountain Trail Association (LMTA) are keen to highlight the stories of th... Keep reading
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Free for supporting members, open to everyone
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2026-04-07 18:00 UTC
· Online
Contemporary pilgrimage, walking art, climate and activism Modern day pilgrimage is growing in popularity – every year numbers grow along some of the oldest and most traditional pilgrimage routes. Pilgrimage has been practised for millennia and is shared by all the world’s major religions, on every continent – there ... Keep reading
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Submit your work and win
What have you been working on? Submit your work to the world’s largest archive of walking pieces. If your work is recent, it is automatically eligible for the Sound Walk September or Marŝarto Awards, meaning you stand to win cold, hard, cash in the process.
Latest podcast episodes
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Coming to the final day of the Walking Art and Relational Geographies conference (2024) that has included a walk from the city of Girona to where we are now in Bany... Start listening
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Upcoming events
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2026-04-07 18:00 UTC
· Online
Contemporary pilgrimage, walking art, climate and activism Modern day pilgrimage is growing in popularity – every year numbers grow along some of the oldest and mos... Keep reading
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2026-04-15 17:00 UTC
· Online
Walk Notations - that brings together traces emerging from Dissident Paths: Walking Together as a Method, a series of artistic walks across Berlin in 2025, meet the... Keep reading
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2026-04-16 23:00 UTC
· Online
Walking starts on Friday 17 April 2026. The intention is to walk the prompt anytime, anywhere during that week. All prompts are able to be walked in any environment... Keep reading
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2026-04-18 08:30 UTC
· Online
This session explores how gender shapes walking, space and artistic expression. Through feminist, queer and postcolonial perspectives, participants examine walking ... Keep reading
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2026-04-18 17:30 UTC
· IMT Gallery, Cambridge Heath Road, London, UK
Spaces are limited. Reserve your place for an evening of quiet attention. Keep reading
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2026-04-22 18:00 UTC
· Online
“As I plod north in the wind, I seem to be making no headway. It’s as if I’m walking on a treadmill: my body is moving but I’m going nowhere….. One minute I seem to... Keep reading
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WALC
Walking Arts & Local Communities (WALC) is an artistic cooperation project, co-funded by the European Union, Creative Europe, starting in January 2024 for four years. With seven partners from five countries, WALC establishes an International Center for Artistic Research and Practice of Walking Arts, in Prespa, Greece, at the border with Albania and North Macedonia, backed up by an online counterpart in the format of a digital platform for walking arts.
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March 2026 we are holding 3 online Map Scrambles, in which artists will be discussing when and why they use maps or mapping to document their walking art. Map Scram... Keep reading
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From our network
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A blog about walking, alone and with others in Edinburgh and at a distance,
for peace. Keep reading
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The group show 'Small Works, Wall Works' was hosted at Trapezium Arts in Bradford, UK from 21 February to 14 March 2026 and featured work by members of the Yorkshir... Keep reading
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March 2026 we are holding 3 online Map Scrambles, in which artists will be discussing when and why they use maps or mapping to document their walking art. Map Scram... Keep reading
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Stuff we found
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Crocs just dropped its latest collaboration with Lego and the clogs are like art you can wear. Here’s where you can buy the colorful shoes online now. Source: Here’... Keep reading
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New writing
This week we’re featuring an extract from: I Could, You Know, I Could by Amelia Hodsdon which was shortlisted in the 2023 competition on the theme of Walking A/way.
See you later
See you at pick-up
Have a good day, yeah
The children are through the gate. The small talk is over. Time to head off.
I could go straight home, make the day’s second coffee, sit down at my desk and stay there for six hours, skipping lunch. Volley emails back and forth and back and forth until the alarm goes for school pick-up and I wonder why my back hurts and my soul aches.
Or I could cross the road, take a right down that little lane where the beech trees meet above, speed up into a run, fling my phone into the hedge and leave it all behind.
I could fling my clothes off too, stride naked and gigantic across the escarpment: the model for the future-famous Escaping Woman of the Cotswolds. Carved into the limestone beneath the turf, famous for her bonny calves and her wild eyes: two campfires kept burning by devotees.
I could leap over the quarries, shouting joyous sounds that echo tenfold from the rocks, startling the dogwalkers. Their hounds would run after me, yelping, forming a bushy tail of fur and noise as I flick drones out of the sky and guide gliders gently into rainbows.
I could cross the Severn with a single step, jog round Wales before lunchtime, cut the top off the Sugar Loaf for my tea, and drink it leaning against the mountains, staring back at my old life, and laughing.
I could do all this. I could.
Want to read other long and short listed pieces under this theme? – use this link
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