in the eye of the storm.
A law was passed last year that no building could be built taller than 37m - mostly in reaction to Montparnasse tower, which is considered by many Parisians as a 'monstrosity'. Ultimately new developments in Paris are few - i cant help but think that this stunt on new architecture has an affect on the mentality of Paris. Is it the reason that Berlin is the currently the hub of contemporary art because its buildings scream modernity. This is part of my take on Psychogeography, that yes how a city in planned affects out physical behaviour, the route we decide to take, but also our mental state. new environments encourage new thinking. Paris saves itself, preserved and fragile (this is definitely part of its beauty) but all that can come of that is a slow and painful decay...?
'i went to Paris because Paris is where you go to think, i wanted to hide out and think, and maybe learn. Paris is the university of the west, and anybody who doesn't understand that doesn't need to go. i went to Paris because i was ignorant; i went as a matriculator, not a pilgrim.'
Paris is full of students. 'Satie studied at my school'. the past is so easily available here, that study and research is of top quality. 'if you want to study that, you have to study it in Paris'. Young students who idolise writers, composers, painters who worked and lived here, it makes perfect sense - it is a place to look back and learn rather than look forward and succeed..?
In Paris i am studying...i know that the flaneur was here, that Baudelaire walked here, that so many people i have read about sat in that cafe...but there is a tension in my project, where theoretically i am firmly based in this past, whereas practically walking is still clinging on to edge of 'contemporary' art/theatre, as it can be considered in many different ways - as performance, as drawing, as exploring, as narrative, as writing, as reading, as exploring, as alternative tourism....this sometimes on explanation makes it hard to grasp and interesting as it is so closely linked to everyday life. Paris has been painted, written about, photographed... i am playing with how i treat Paris, sometimes with a lighter touch of just strolling with no intention of disturbing it, others i cut a straight line through its flesh, others i take and save, sometimes i leave things for passers by.
'what was i looking for when i came to Paris? i don't know. i was chasing some romantic illusion, looking for something genuine, but the feeling got lost among the crowded souvenir shops in front of the Notre Dame' (i say just don't go to there!)
WALK 33
I walked along the part of the Periphery, aware that this line would be drawn on my map, showing i had touched the edge, i had crossed it, it felt the same. the bridges reminded me of other bigger bridges - Brooklyn bridge, golden gate bridge. the road disappeared beneath them, underground, under trees and lakes. this is a strange place i thought where a main road turns so suddenly into a forest - Bois de Boulogne.
This walk was inspired by Tony Smith's walk on the New Jersey Turnpike, he was considered one of the fathers on 'minimal art' and this event is seen as the 'end of art' as he wonders on this walk; 'The road and much of the landscape was artificial but it couldn't be called a work of art.'
My walking and mapping is also a take on Richard Long's a 'line made by walking'....here the body is a tool for drawing, a tool for measuring space and time, and walking is not only an action, it is also become a sign that is superimposed on paper.
WALK 34
22nd November. sunrise at 8.08 at the Sacre Coeur. a 9 hour and 5 minute walk. sunset at 17.11 at Montparnasse tower.
This walk was inspired by;
'The average duration of a derive is one day'
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