Abstract
The artistic medium of walking always begins with an invitation.
Since 2009 I have been dedicated to making art works that can only be experienced as a walk (Morris, 2021). No matter the content, the medium is constant: the walk itself is the work of art. Because of this, my work always begins with an invitation to go for a walk. The invitation might be a written instruction, an oral provocation, or a kinetic demonstration.
It is not enough to view the documentation of someone else's walk—the art walk is the artwork.
A walk might be designed to be walked together in person, together at a distance, or on your own. Whether the artist is present or not, you are walking in a way they have designed. Even when walking alone, by interpreting the instructions of the artist you are walking with them. As Samuel R. Delany asserts, ‘language (and all that is language like) is the social, you can only be alone without it’ (Delany et al., 1987: 162). The invitation frames the walk; it initiates a way of walking with.
The invitation indicates who is invited to walk when and where.
Not every walk invites everyone. The important thing is to make the invitation clear. For whom is the walk intended? Do not obfuscate a walk's inaccessibility. Own it or change it.
The invitation is subject to circumstances.
When I started creating walks, I focused on groups walking through the same space together. Later, I moved to connecting different groups of people through digital means. The global Covid-19 pandemic changed how we were able to invite people to walk with us. Walking together, but apart, became the dominant mode. Invitations proliferated through Twitter, Facebook, e-mail listservs, and other modes of digital communication.
The artistic medium of walking is a story-making medium.
A walk does not necessarily convey a story, rather it asks you to make your own. Michel de Certeau argues that the only way to understand a story is to enter the movement of the story, to make the movement itself (de Certeau, 2011: 81). As I have argued previously, ‘It is in the creation rather than the reception of experience that the medium of walking can be found’ (Morris, 2020: 16). Following this, try out these walking invitations. What stories emerge?
Go for a walk. Walk about until you run into someone you know. Say hello. Invite them to walk with you and repeat the process. How many people can you bring along by the end? 1
Find someone from your hometown who no longer lives there. Invite them to take you on a walk between two places they consider home in their new town. 2
Go for a walk. Consider what you want to remember about your walk. Transform your memories into a walking instruction. Invite someone to walk that instruction. 3