In September and October 2019, I walked a distance of 300 kilometers over 25 days. I had a basic route, from point A to point B. I want to live this walked performance without predicting too much how it will unfold, that is to say letting myself live in the situations encountered without trying to organize them.I wanted to wander.
How to live a mode of wandering in a walking project whose route I have traced? Is this really consistent? I cannot live a wandering such as the itinerant lives (and I do not wish it). My wandering takes place mentally and emotionally. It becomes an attitude in my journey on the road. In theories about the creation process, wandering can correspond to the incubation period of a new idea, it is a period of latency. This period, in the creative process, allows the artist to see something new emerging in their creative work.
So which word to choose ? Wander ? Itinerary (or roaming) ? Wandering etymologically means going here and there. Roaming has a slightly different meaning because it introduces the idea of the route, in the sense that the route is planned and, from which the walker deviates. Itineraire (itinerare) would be closer to the idea of travel, of displacement. On the other hand this word is strongly connoted and refers to the marginalized itinerant on the street. Which is not my situation. The term wandering is more appropriate when talking about an attitude, a process, because it refers to a state. The audio paper address these dimensions of wandering in the itinerary, and wich attitudes make it possible, such as the presence of the artist and listening to bodily sensations.
Credits
Hosted by: Drifting Bodies / Fluid Spaces - Made of Walking (VII) - Guimaraes (Portugal) - 22-24 July 2020