Related
Aurora dos Campos
Aurora dos Campos is a set designer, artist and researcher. She holds a PhD in Fine Arts from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto [FBAUP], having received a grant from the Foundation for Science and Technology [FCT] for her research entitled “Fictionalising Matter ∩ Materialising Fiction: The Artistic Practice of a Set Designer”. She is a research fellow at the Institute for Research in Art, Design and Society [I2ADS]. She holds a Master’s degree in Art and Design for Public Space from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, with the dissertation “Dramaturgies of the Everyday: Speculations on the Fictional Dimension of the Real” [FBAUP | 2019] and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts with a specialisation in set design from the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro [UNIRIO | 2006].
The Green Line
In the summer of 1995 I performed a walk with a leaking can of blue paint in the city of São Paulo. The walk was then read as a poetic gesture of sorts. In June 2004, I re-enacted that same performance with a leaking can of green paint by tracing a line following the portion of the ‘Green Line’ that runs through the municipality of Jerusalem.
Related
Aurora dos Campos
Aurora dos Campos is a set designer, artist and researcher. She holds a PhD in Fine Arts from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto [FBAUP], having received a grant from the Foundation for Science and Technology [FCT] for her research entitled “Fictionalising Matter ∩ Materialising Fiction: The Artistic Practice of a Set Designer”. She is a research fellow at the Institute for Research in Art, Design and Society [I2ADS]. She holds a Master’s degree in Art and Design for Public Space from the Faculty of Fine Arts of the University of Porto, with the dissertation “Dramaturgies of the Everyday: Speculations on the Fictional Dimension of the Real” [FBAUP | 2019] and holds a Bachelor’s degree in Performing Arts with a specialisation in set design from the Federal University of the State of Rio de Janeiro [UNIRIO | 2006].
The Green Line
In the summer of 1995 I performed a walk with a leaking can of blue paint in the city of São Paulo. The walk was then read as a poetic gesture of sorts. In June 2004, I re-enacted that same performance with a leaking can of green paint by tracing a line following the portion of the ‘Green Line’ that runs through the municipality of Jerusalem.
When you are lost in the desert, you might think your best option is to keep walking in a straight line, in the hope of hitting a road or some other landmark. Research has shown that you will most likely walk in a circle and end up where you started.
I wanted to experiment with getting lost by intentionally walking in circles. I chose the emptiest, most isolated landscape you can imagine: the Rub’ al Khali desert in Oman. In a dry flat valley – a wadi – I created a circle by walking the same route on seven consecutive days. The perimeter of the circle was about 3.7 kilometres, a 45 minute walk. Along the track I created chalk circles with text. You cannot see these from afar, they only appear when you are really close.
By walking for seven days in a row, I emphasise the endlessness of walking round in circles. Day after day, ending up where I began, following my own footsteps. In the empty wadi, in the punishing heat, you can’t walk away from questions.
-is it possible to get lost?
– is it a problem if you return at your starting point? If you end up where you began?
– aren’t we all walking in circles in life, all the while thinking we are going in a straight line?
My feet create the track. When I stop walking, the track will disappear and all will be gone but not lost.
2 thoughts on “Walking in circles”
You must be logged in to post a comment.