Artists who using walking within their work



Vito Acconci

 

Vito Acconci's 'Following Piece' consisted of him following passers-by around NYC until they entered private property. This ranged from 2-3 minutes while they walked to their car and he didn't have chance to find a taxi to follow it, up to 7-8 hours where they went to watch a film or to a restaurant. This piece was created in 1969 so was one of the first pieces of performance art. It was the start of the change in art, in the late 60s, where artwork moved from being just pieces in galleries to outside, exploring real issues in the world - this is what makes this piece significant to me. Because I prefer looking at conceptual artwork which has an interesting meaning or story behind it, I think this piece is important as it helped start such a big area of what is considered art today by using a quite simple idea, it has had a big impact.

 

 

Stanley Brouwn

 

This piece - 'Steps of pedestrians on paper' - was created by Stanley Brouwn. He left blank pieces of paper on the streets of Amsterdam, waited for people to leave footprints on them before collecting them. I particularly like this piece because not only is it nice to look at with the subtle patterns from the soles of shoes and the unsymmetrical composition, but I think it's an interesting and unusual way of collecting information about who's been where. It reminds me of footprints in the sand however they are lost when the tide comes in but because these footprints have been recorded on paper, they can stay forever.

 

 

Tehching Hsieh

 

Tehching Hsieh conducted a one year performance piece where he lived for the entire year without entering any the interior of anything - building or vehicle. This meant he must always walk and live outside starting from September 26, 1981 at 2 pm until September 26, 1982 at 2 pm. He allowed himself a sleeping bag and that was all. This was one of a few one year projects he completed, all of which were equally extreme. I think he was making a point, similar to Vito Acconci, about how art can be more than just a painting. He was making people aware of different issues whilst still creating art.