This past weekend I have been in North Norfolk, participating in an art installation created by Robert Wilson entitled 'Walking.' The idea is that the participants walk alone, and at a very slow pace through the countryside, encountering art installations that juxtapose with the landscape. The walk takes three hours, and crosses streams and fields, dips in and out of forests, takes you along a dune path, and ends on the beach, where each person is lowered slowly back on a large wooden bed frame - a really odd but not unpleasant sensation! I couldn't commit to the whole three week rehearsal period and run, and so I joined as a pacemaker - my role was to lead the audience on the walk, and ensure that everyone maintained the one step per second pace. It was so difficult walking that slowly, but it forces you to contemplate and listen to your surroundings, like an active meditation. The landscape is stunning, I had little idea England could be so wild and beautiful! There was even a little soundscape composed by Tom Waits who is a regular collaborator with Wilson, it was the sound of crickets stretched out over the lifetime of a man, resulting in a strange, etheral choir. I stayed in hostel-like accomodation with the cast and crew, and they were all terrific - I laughed so much! On the second day there was a lighting storm and everyone got drenched as there was no shelter along the walk, luckily the storm cleared before I set out, but it was a very dramatic storm - quite a contrast to the serenity of the walk. Pictured is the positive cone, which was very near the end of the walk. The walk began with a negative cone, which was actually in the ground and surrounded by a wooden box the framed the sky. The whole thing was very spiritual, yet understated, and has shown me just what is possible with art, performance and nature.
You can read more about the project here.
You can read more about the project here.
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