this is a manual for those who wish to occupy a city, a street and those who cannot go unnoticed in their daily life, but are also invisible when its convenient - you do not understand this then this manual is not for youthats okay, you can still read and show up for the other. this is a manual for a precarious body that looks to preserve itself, but only with the other. this is a manual for a precarious body that knows nothing can be done alone, this is for a precarious body that already preserves itself by talking their sisters face before they sleep, by sharing the open call, the one that talks about palestine in institutions where everyone pretends to care, the ones who stand in solidarity, the ones that know pleasure is earthly and rest is spiritual, to the ones that stretch themselves out because they want another world
the ones that theory is written about but never for the ones that don't profit off of their identities the ones that wish they could be silent, but their body is always raging with anger
let's go for a walk if you have time, steal some more time if you already on stolen time, steal some more
if you decide to socially engaged with a socially engaged art many questions you have to ask yourself are you going to be honest and what is even morality in capitalism, but you must be honest towards yourself
walking is still an honest art (look it up, its a song)
first and foremost, you must ask what at the core are you trying to engage with through this walk?
will you give your body over to the walker?
this trust is to be nurtured, cared for, it is like a child
you must be trusting of the other body, trust means openness towards a chance to fail
once you ask another walk for a purpose, you must accept your own
subjectivities, what you believe is true for you
you must first walk a lot yourself, and get lost, and walk and walk and walk again until you walk beyond walking but what does that mean? until walking becomes something, not just a walk not just you two legs, but everything you encounter - or maybe even more it is something you will know, when you feel patient enough with yourself when you get lost, you will be ready to follow another you must read ernesto pujol, you must read many things before because a good guide is one who reads and investigates deeply and researches thoroughly after all walking is an honest thing when you want to invite someone for a walk, choose someone who you know you are aligned with in terms of the heart
what does that mean, that is something for you to find out for me it is someone i know who is not silent when they know something is unjust - they will scream, they will fight - walking is not for cowards when i came to choose my fellow walkers and ask them, i asked them because i knew we are concerned with being in a world we can share what does that mean?
have you imagined a world together before? have you broken bread with your fellow walkers? maybe you want to walk with a stranger, but maybe you want to learn what a stranger means, and what to walk with also means i walk with strangers all the time, because we share space but we don't walk together, we walk with each other
meaning there is still space for us to walk together that is the precise potential of a walk, to walk together (perhaps) or (hopefully)
you must walk with yourself before you give yourself over, and you must forgive yourself for never walking enough
a walker never overestimates their body, but has honest trust in walking together and the potential for that to surpass the body only you can allow yourself only you can give yourself the forgiveness of never being able to walk enough be gentle with yourself, for you are your own fellow walker and surrender to thirst, hunger, anger, desire - you are so human let your spirit pierce through your flesh
how do you pierce through your own flesh? you walk together ask yourself honestly
why am i inviting this person for a walk
am i willing to get lost
am i willing to be hungry
am i willing to be thirsty
am i willing to be wrong
am i willing to be together
am i willing to be from being with to together
am i okay with being with
am i willing to be mis understood
am i willing to be willing
am i (you?)
and once your (i) dissolves into an ease, you will be ready to transcend yourself to be with the other it will not be pleasing always, pleasantness and politeness are for those who can afford it and if you can afford both, do not go on a walk you are only patient
i located a question of interest: how does a precarious body preserve itself?
i wrote a score - which honestly, i learned was a score - i did not know beforehand apparently - everything can be something else, are you willing to write something that becomes a score? if so, then you are ready read choreopolice and chorepoliticsandré lepecki
below is the text i sent to my fellow walkers:
Hello, For our walk
before we go on this walk
Feel free to do (and not do)
- i ask that you think what does it mean to preserve a precarious body
- I invite you to do a nonstop speech production (with respect to your body)
- while we are in our pilgrimage I ask you to think that you want to document this experience and share it
- how would you tell someone how you preserve your body in a way that only you understand
- if you want to keep traces, bring things that help you document (pen, paper, camera, etc)
- how does it feel to give over yourself to time
- how does it feel to walk to somewhere specific
- when we arrive to the place you want to go, we can dwell there
- how will we return, how will we part
- take time to write I will write you
- construct a map of the experience
Ask me WHATEVER1!!!
i want to start with telling you that whatever you write with your own subjectivity will be (mis)understood through the other with their own subjectivities, and that will expand your own understand
how to expand your understanding: if you are finding trouble with being misunderstood, spend more time walking with yourself if you are finding trouble with being misunderstood, invite the other for a silent walk
i asked my fellow walkers to engage with a speech production method - to talk to me nonstop, and i was there to listen, affirm, prompt further while i follow them in the walk (not knowing), where will we go. many times we got lost, but we always found where we were heading towards, also many were confused with the word precariousthats important - ask and prompt. i
asked to slow down in our walk many times, because we must respect each others pace. we stopped for food. we hugged. we ended our walk early, we extended our walk, we parted ways. we went to a cafe after the walk. we sat down many times. we said hello to other walkers. we felt a thinning veil.
many things can happen in a walk, what holds your walk? in respect for the walker you invite, you must gently contain your walk with a clear question, some further questions that swim inside of your belly and hold space for the questions that swim inside their belly, together you will make a lake, river, sea, ocean, or maybe a pond? just not a pool.
your fellow walker may change the time of your walk, might cancel many times - but if your urgencies are the same trust that you will find the time to walk together, all you have to do is steal some time (what does that mean anyways? to steal time? if you don’t know what stealing time means, maybe this manual is not for you but keep reading it is for the other.)
the language you use in the invite must be honest, as honest as the walk you intend to take - you must be intentional about your honesty, otherwise you will be caught in a spider’s web thinking you walking, but soon you will be the spiders dinnerand if you walk without intention, you deserve to be the spiders dinner after all walking IS an honest thing
honest language is a language that you practice, just as much as you walk, you must also write, and write and
write, and write, and write until you are all written out and when you write something that is honest as telling the spider that you do not want to die, then you will know what you ask of the other is honest, because nothing is more honest than wanting to stay alive but also, if it is too serious and too sober - you have wrapped yourself in a cocoon so dont be too serious, ask them like you asked someone when you were young in the playground if they wanted to be friends - serious about going to go on the slide
after the 6 walks, i wanted to create a comprehensive map to share with others, mapping out from previous walks, sharing a map that means something that not everyone will understand, not everyone is meant to understand everything but if they are willing, they will understand something do you want everyone to understand everything?
think of how you will create your map, who is able to show up?
the final map is for you to make a promise to devote your own precarious body to other precarious bodies, you will walk sometimes alone, and
sometimes with others, and sometimes together
you must continue walking - because walking is always an honest thing the most honest thing you can do is wanting to stay alive
so walk as if it is the last thing you will do
why do you share your map? will you share your map?
i decided to share what times and where i will be, because i wanted the other to decide for themselves, i pause in each place for 10 minutes
i used qr code to scan to show the route i will be taking using google maps - because we are always being surveilled, make peace with it - or die on this hill (if it is the only honest thing you can do)
you can decide how long you will be in each place - but you have to decide
why? only you know why, and for how long? you must share that. a map to be shared, is asking others to join you on the walk i chose to walk from sunrise to sunset as an offering to other bodies, whose bodies have been oriented by an(others) time.
can you go for a walk that is happening all the time? or do you not have the time? why do you not have the time?
maybe we will walk together, if you are will willing, or maybe we will walk with one another
here is my map:
here is my map:
i decided to use tracing paper and create our own map, a map based on precarious bodies, to reorient space, everyone will be moving according to a reference of those talking their sisters face before they sleep, by sharing the open call, the one that talks about palestine in institutions where everyone pretends to care, the ones who stand in solidarity, the ones that know pleasure is earthly and rest is spiritual, to the ones that stretch themselves out because they want another world the ones that theory is written about but never for the ones that don't profit off of their identities the ones that wish they could be silent, but their body is always raging with anger
some will find you, and some will not - not everyone is meant to understand the walk you will also find peace in mis(understanding) - it is as serious as the playground
you will feel a presence that reverberates inside your flesh and your spirit
what will you wear?
will it make you visible? (remember the beginning)
i decided to wear something that will mark my presence (why? you will understand once you read ernesto pujol)
i wore a watch, to keep track of time (you will lose track of time)
i lost track of time (are you willing to lose track of time?)
you are already stealing it (time!)
i have decided to keep the material of the walks to the group of walkers, but i believe it is important to share will you write me an email: walkingisanhonestthing@gmail.com if you are interested in knowing more, because just like not everything being understood by everyone, not everything is meant to be seen by everyone please send me your experiences, ideas, archival material - honestly thank you to my fellow walkers: allah, alejandro jiménez, chiara wilbers, ioanna mitza, julie brinks, yinzk
and thank you for printing and binding: graphic designer
chayenne pop, @ mintroad
