Creative Walking With Richard Long

P30026 - Design Literature Review S a d a f P o u r z a n d - 8 th N o v e m b e r 2 0 1 3

Born in 1945 in Bristol, Long is one of Britain’s most impor tant ar tists, who has exhibited internationally since the late Sixties. Long has been testing the boundaries of ar t with walks recorded by texts, and photo works of his sculptures made in landscapes.

Richard Long’s work represents a dialogue with nature using both its landscapes and materials. He works directly on the ear th in a variety of ways thus illuminating the need to represent ar t. Walking has clearly become Long’s trademark, the path is perhaps the central image or archetype in his work. To walk a line is the easiest thing a human being can do to mark a place and Long has been using this research method for over four ty years to create his outstanding ar tworks.

“Art can be made anywhere, perhaps seen by a few people or not recognised as art when they do.�

Richard Long 1983

Lao-tzu, a philosopher of ancient China, is often quoted saying ‘A journey of thousand miles begins with a single step’. It is extremely difficult to decide where and when the first step of a journey occurs, especially when metaphoric. (Nicholson 2008, P1). The history of walking can be found in a thousand passages in books, as well as in songs, streets, and almost everyone’s adventures. Walking has an unrecorded, secret history. The physical history of walking is that of bipedal evolution and human anatomy. Most of the time walking is simply an unconsidered locomotive means between two sites. It is in some sense about how we invest universal acts with par ticular meanings for example eating or breathing. Walking can be invested with wildly different cultural meanings, from the erotic to the spiritual, from the revolutionary to the ar tistic (Solnit 2000, P3-4).

Walking is a method of research where each person can have a different experience by it.

Looking back into history, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a Genevan philosopher and writer used walking as a technique to put his thoughts in order (Rousseau 1992). Walking is a way to develop deep thoughts; it allows us to be in our bodies and in the world without being made busy by them (Solnit 2000, P5). The specific study of the ar t of walking has garnered high attention over recent times. The ar t of walking as a subject matter can be interpreted through anthropology and tourism however as an actual ar tistic practise it has not quite been defined. As a result, theory and logic behind this subject is evolving at present with the help of many ar tists (Robinson et al 2013).

Ar tists such as Richard Long have travelled countries to create their ar twork, leaving traces of their movements on the land to create ar tistic sculptures (Robinson et al 2013). Long is an ar tist who has been involved with the landscape since the sixties creating many different ar tworks. The landscape is both the medium which he choses to create his work from and the subject (Jacket 2013). His childhood experiences have influenced his passion to work with landscape. He receives the most pleasure and greatest inspiration by walking and working on landscape (Long et al 2005, P7).

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This literature review aims to analyse the research method of walking by looking at three different ar tworks by Richard Long. The first piece of work being reviewed is his best-known early piece, ‘A line made by walking’ (1967) which is a simple black-and-white photograph.

Long’s travels to South Africa will be reviewed with the most emphasis put towards his famous ar twork ‘Africa Footprints’ (1986), this is a piece created with mud footprints on paper. The third and final ar twork is a text-work called ‘A line of 33 stones, a walk of 33 days’ (1998), this work was created on a 1030-mile walk. These three pieces have been chosen as each one has been created using different ar tistic techniques while being incluenced by Long’s walks and experiences from his journeys. This review will conclude by analysing how this method of research can be applied in to architecture.

Richard Long illumunates the need to represent ar t by working directly on the ear th (landscape) in different ways. By using photographs, maps, drawings and words on paper, Long captures memories of his distinct activities around the world (Omnibus: Richard Long, 1983).

It is through these forms presented in exhibitions, that his work has become familiar to so many.

The real story and meanings behind his work is much more fluid, they are representations of his journeys – of ar t being created by walking (Jacket 2013). Long’s walks, often spanning over a hundred miles, have lead him to the most distant places of not only Britain but also South Africa, Japan and India amongst other countries. It is on his walks that he ‘manipulates’ the landscape to form his unique ar twork (Fox 2013).

In long’s ar t, the walk is the most direct, immediate and practical way of interacting with nature. The relationship between the idea for a walk, the walk itself, and the physical evidence for the walk, is a fundamental issue in his ar t (Long et al 2002, P14-16). Long has created a considerable and varied frame of work in which the connection between man and nature is a central and unifying concern (Long et al 2002, P32). Although it is possible to 2

recognise these different components individually, it is the interaction of these components that provides the fabric of his ar twork. It is for this reason that Long’s ar t falls outside the definition of ‘Conceptual Ar t’ (Long et al 2002, p36).

Richard Long’s first piece is essentially known as a simple and straightforward black-andwhite photograph (FIG 1). It shows a line of flattened, trampled upon grass made by repetitively walking up and down an unidentified field in the countryside, just outside London (Roelstraete 2010, P2). In an interview, Long described that he took the train from London’s Waterloo station heading southeast, disembarked after about twenty miles and found the featureless field that was to become the site for his first ar twork, ‘A line made by walking’.

(Burgon 2012) All types of dematerialisation and disappearance were definitely evident in the summer of 1967 when Richard Long, then a 22 year old student at St. Mar tin’s School of Ar t in London, created the work of ar t. This work indefinitely secured his inclusion in most official historiographies of early Conceptual, Environmental and performance ar t (Roelstraete 2010, P2).

In an interview Long stated that “A walk traces the surface of the land, it follows an idea, it follows the day and the night.” (Tufnell 2007, P18) Long believes that ar tists from prehistoric cave paintings to 20th century landscape photography, have always recorded nature.

He has stated that his aim has always been to make nature the subject of his ar t and this is the reason behind his creative walks (Tufnell 2007, P39).

Richard Long described his first work as a “straight line in a grass field, which was also my own path, going nowhere”. Long’s intention of all the walking was to make a new way of it, his aim was to make it into ‘ar t’. He wanted to create a perfect means to explore relationships between time, distance, geography and measurements. It is believed that walking enabled Long to extend the boundaries of sculpture and ar t which had the potential to be de-constructed in the space and time of walking long distances. (Tufnell 2007, P39) 3

FIG 1. A line made by walking 1967

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Long has always identified himself as a sculptor and A Line Made By Walking has been associated by some writers with minimalist sculpture due to its pared down aesthetic (Roelstraete 2010, p.46). However, unlike an unoriginal minimalist sculpture, A Line Made by Walking was temporary, as the trodden grass would have returned to its natural state within a matter of days. (Burgon 2012) Even though Long likes to identify himself as a sculptor, he has been readily associated with land ar t since his use of natural environment in A Line Made by Walking. Land ar t is a practice that emerged in the late 1960s in both Europe and America and integrated aspects of minimalism and conceptualism with a direct engagement in the landscape. However, in comparison to the monumental permanent works of the Nor th American land ar tists, Long’s intervention in the landscape was transient and humble. This disparity has meant that Long has been somewhat uneasy about being classified as a ‘land ar tist’ (Tufnell 2007, pp.9–10).

Although no human figure appears in Long’s photograph, A Line Made By Walking presents a trace of corporeal presence and bodily action.

Since creating a line made by walking, Long has made numerous other works which exist as temporary traces of his walks, and of his physical presence in the landscape, at a range of sites and in various countries around the globe. (Long et al 2005, P37) Other photographic evidence of Richard Long’s walking journeys include, ‘Circle in Alaska’ 1977 (FIG 2), ‘River Po Line’ 2001 (FIG 3) and many more.

Shor tly after Long graduated from the prominent St Mar tin’s School of Ar t, he made his first step to Africa in 1969 to climb Mount Kilimanjaro (Kleinsmith 2011). He travelled there to make ‘the highest sculpture in the world’ on the summit of Kilimanjaro (Tufnell 2011, p7).

Since this early work, Long has returned to Africa several times over the years to create his unique sculptural works directly on to the landscape (Kleinsmith 2011). Much of the territory in South Africa is perfect for Long’s ar twork as it is empty, flat, stony terrain that he desires.

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FIG 2. Circle in Alaska 1977

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FIG 3. River Po Line 2001

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Open landscapes with clear, distant views where one may walk unimpeded in a straight line is what Long required to produce his unique ar twork (Tufnell 2011, p7). Long has been associated with the genres of Land Ar t and minimalism, however he sees his work as rooted in the act of walking, and in the reduction and relocating of existing forms rather than the production of new objects (Kleinsmith 2011).

In an interview with William Furlong in 1984, Richard Long indicated that his ar twork is found by walking. He explained that he discovers the landscape through walking and he often finds a place for the sculpture just by chance along his walk. Long suggested that he sometimes may have preconceived ideas before star ting the walk about his next piece of ar twork however the ideas most often get changed by the circumstances of the walk and the landscape.

He explained that when he first travelled to Africa, he had an idea to make a circle of stones high on a mountain in Malawi. When he reached the top of the mountain, he realised there was no ice or snow – there were no actual screes or snow on the ground, everything was smooth rock. He then changed his plan and created a circle of burnt cactuses, which had been burnt in lightning storms. (Tufnell 2007, P59) Richard Long stated, “A walk marks time with an accumulation of footsteps. It defines the form of the land. Walking the roads and paths is to trace a por trait of the country. I have become interested in using walking to express original ideas about the land, ar t, and walking itself.” (Tufnell 2007, P25) He used his passion for walking and producing ar t to create Africa Footprint in 1986 after returning to Africa. This piece was created for a charity project to aid African famine victims. In this ar twork Long’s muddy footprints mark out the shape of the continent. The print evokes the fact that walking is still the principle means of travel in much of Africa and mud is a universal building material (Tufnell 2007, p8). Although the ar twork refers to Long’s own walks and experiences in Africa, it also suggests the journeys under taken by underprivileged people walking long distances in search of food aid (Victoria and Alber t Museum, 2012) 8

FIG 4. African Footprint 1986

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‘The Africa Footprint is a symbol of connectivity of rootedness.’ A footprint is the essential measure of movement and the basic unit of human measurement. This piece of ar twork suggests the idea of physical contact which is central to Long’s work. Long is also proposing the sense that his work addresses the idea of “touching the ear th”. Above all it is thought that a footprint is a classical symbol of human presence, it is a message from the past to the present that declares a human being passed (Tufnell 2011, p8). Other sculptural work from Long’s journey to South Africa include, ‘Karoo Crossing’ (FIG 5) and ‘Karoo Line’ (FIG 6) and of course many more pieces.

The third and final work being reviewed is a work created using text. A text is a description or a story of a work in the landscape. It is the simplest and most elegant way to present a par ticular idea which could be a walk, or a sculpture or both (Tufnell 2007, p8).

‘A line of 33 stones a walk of 33 days’ 1998 (FIG 7), measures the day by stones. A stone is placed on the road each day along a walk of 1030 miles in 33 days. Star ting from the southernmost point to the nor thernmost point of the mainland (Tufnell 2007, p8). Long’s theme of work is measurement, measurement between distance and walking time, or distance and stones, or places to sea level (Long et al 2005, P308). Long stated, “relationships are a fundamental theme of many works. I walk on a planet which circles the sun. Each day is a solar event. Time is measured in days, and walking time can be the measure of a country (Tufnell 2007, p8).

The accomplished work is more an idea than a material residue, since the stones cannot be seen as a whole, nor do they necessarily constitute a pattern. The noticeable fact is the expenditure of time and energy represented by the walk itself. The stones symbolise the footsteps; they also denote the slightness of the walker’s imprint on the landscape that surrounds him and absorbs his journey (Zaller 2009).

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FIG 6. Karoo Line 2004

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FIG 5. Karoo Crossing 2004

FIG 7.

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Long’s work is a balance between the reality of seeing real stones and then a photograph of the stones taken being placed many thousand miles away (Long et al 2005, P147). Other textworks of Richard Long include ‘A five day walk’ (FIG 8), ‘Mountain to Mountain’ (FIG 9) and many others.

In relation to the work of Richard Long, Francesco Careri comments, ‘Here walking is not only an action, it is also a sign, a form that can be superimposed on existing forms, both in reality and on paper’ (Careri 2001 P150). Richard Long’s work embraces walking as an aesthetic practice within a space, and through connection to that space, unknown landscapes become places for the viewer (Vaughn P320). Walking is a sensorial means for engaging with space and for transitioning from place to place (Wunderlich, 2008, p. 125).

It enables us to learn about and to develop connections to specific places (Tuan, 1977).

Filip Matos Wunderlich (2008, p. 126) argues walking as ‘both a purposeful activity and as a creative and critical spatial practice’, because ‘Walking practices vary in pace, rhythm and purpose and nur ture our long term intimacy and more or less a critical relationship to place’ (Wunderlich, 2008, p. 131). Beyond the kingdom of the ar ts, Rebecca Solnit states that she walks to think, solve and create too. She believes that ‘walking ideally is a state in which the mind, the body, and the world are aligned’ (Solnit, 2000, p. 5).

Drawing, surveying and measuring a location from fixed and static viewpoints is questioned by the unique understanding of site fluidity that walking provides. When sites are encountered in motion and in relationship to one another when one walks, which suggests that come across differently depending whether one is ‘coming’ or ‘going’ to it. Walking, by moving and intervening through a site, proposes a design method which allows one to imagine beyond the present condition without freezing possibility into form as opposed to proceeding from the observational, to the analytical, to the propositional. (Rendell 2006, p188) Walks have been organised since 1995 by the group Stalker; photographs were taken and 13

FIG 8.

FIG 9.

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a diary was kept whilst spending 4 days walking around the periphery of Rome (O’Rourke 2013, P234). They propose that this is what architects should be doing; reclaiming land by exploring it and taking occupation as the star ting points of architectural design. Stalker got to know a city by walking as it allows neglected par ts of the city to be linked up as well as areas that may be physically proximate but have been separated by obstructions to make way for roads and other urban developments (Rendell 2006, P188).

In conclusion, walking is a great research method, used by almost everyone in different ways as it is proven in the history. Walking opens up the body and the mind, it can be used to put thoughts in order or it can be used as a way to free the mind to be creative.

Since the sixties, Richard Long has been using walking as a method to produce his ar twork in the landscape. He has done many walking journeys, where he has spent days and nights in the landscape. Long has travelled continents and countries to produce his unique and meaningful pieces, each ar twork relates and is influenced by the landscape he has walked on. As he has mentioned in an interview with William Furlong in 1984, he discovers the landscape through walking and the idea of the ar twork comes to him unplanned along the walk, taking in mind the circumstances of the walk and the area.

Walking can be used as a simple research method for architecture. Getting to know an area before designing anything is very critical. Walking provides an understanding of the site and the surrounding area. Through the act of walking new connections are made and remade.

Walking creates a design method that enables one to imagine beyond the present conditions, as one can be made to see past the existing features of the site. One’s mind opens up to creativity along a walk.

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My work is visible or invisible. It can be an object or an idea carried out and equally shared by anyone who knows about it.

My photographs are facts which bring the right accessibility to remote, lonely or otherwise unrecognisable works. Some sculptures are seen by a few people, but can be known about by many.

My outdoor sculptures and walking locations Are not subject to procession and ownership. I like the fact that roads and mountains are common, public land… … A true understanding of the land requires more than the building of objects… …A walk expresses space and freedom and the knowledge of it can live in the imagination of anyone, and that is another space too.

A walk is just one more layer, a mark, laid upon the thousands of other layers of human and geographic history on the surface of the land.

Maps help to show this.

A walk traces the surface of the land, it follows an idea, it follows the day and the night.

A road is the site of many journeys.

The place of a walk is there before the walk and after it.”

Richard Long (1980)

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Books: Careri, F (2001). walkscapes: walking as an aesthetic practice. Spain: Gustavo Gili. 150.

Crouch et al (2012). Doing Research in Design . England: Berg. 53-59.

Fulton, H (2012). Walking in relation to everything . England: Cornerhouse Publications.

Geoff Nicholson (2008). The Lost Ar t of Walking. England: Penguin Group. 1.

Long, R (2002). Richard Long: A Moving World. England: Tate St Ives. 14-16.

Long, R (2009). Richard Long: Heaven and Ear th. England: Tate St Ives.

Long, R (2007). Richard Long: Walking and Marking. Scotland: National Galleries of Scotland. 51-57.

Long, R (2005). Richard Long: Walking the Line. England: Thames & Hudson. 7.

Long, R (2005). Richard Long: Walking the Line. England: Thames & Hudson. 37.

O’Rourke, K (2013). Walking and Mapping: Ar tists as Car tographers. USA: library of congress cataloging-in-publication data. 234.

O’Rourke, K (2013). Walking and Mapping: Ar tists as Car tographers. USA: library of congress cataloging-in-publication data. 247.

Rendell, J (2006). ART AND ARCHITECTURE: A place between. USA: Tauris & Co LTD. 182 190.

Rendell et al (2007). Critical Architecture. USA: Routledge. 000.

Roelstraete, D (2010). Richard Long: A Line Made by Walking. England: Afterall. 2.

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Roelstraete, D (2010). Richard Long: A Line Made by Walking. England: Afterall. 46.

Rousseau,J (1992). The Reveries of the Solitary Walker. USA: Hackett Publishing Company.

Solnit, R (2000). Wanderlust: A History of Walking. USA: Penguin Group. 3-4.

Solnit, R (2000). Wanderlust: A History of Walking. USA: Penguin Group. 5.

Swenson, J (2000). On Jean-Jaques Rousseau. USA: Stanford University Press. 000.

Tuan, Y.-F. (1977). Space and Place, University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis, MN. Tufnell, B (2007). Richard Long: Selected Statements and Interviews. England: England. 7.

Tufnell, B (2007). Richard Long: Selected Statements and Interviews. England: England. 8.

Tufnell, B (2007). Richard Long: Selected Statements and Interviews. England: England.

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Tufnell, B (2007). Richard Long: Selected Statements and Interviews. England: England. 18.

Tufnell, B (2007). Richard Long: Selected Statements and Interviews. England: England. 25.

Tufnell, B (2007). Richard Long: Selected Statements and Interviews. England: England. 39.

Tufnell, B (2007). Richard Long: Selected Statements and Interviews. England: England. 59.

Tufnell, B (2011). Richard Long: Karoo Highveld - works from South Africa. England: Haunch of Venison. 7.

Tufnell, B (2011). Richard Long: Karoo Highveld - works from South Africa. England: Haunch of Venison. 8.

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Documentaries: Omnibus: Richard Long (1983), Directed by Robin Lough. England, BBC 1. [Documentary] 3-Minute Wonder: Richard Long - Heaven and ear th (2009), Directed by Nico Wasserman.

England. Tate Media. [DVD] Journals: Stewar t, N. (1984). CIRCA Ar t Magazine. Richard Long: Lines of Thought a Conversation with Nick Stewar t. 19, 8.

Vaughn, L . (2009). Walking the Line: Affectively Understanding and Communicating the Complexity of Place. The Car tographic Journal. Vol 46 (4), pp.316–322.

Wunderlich, F. M. (2008). ‘Walking and rhythmicity: sensing urban space’, Journal of Urban Design, 13, pp. 125–139.

News: Higgins, C. (2012). Richard Long: ‘It was the swinging 60s. To be walking lines in fields was a bit different’. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/ar tanddesign/2012/jun/15/ richard-long-swinging-60s-interview. Last accessed 1St November 2013.

Jones, J. (2009). A hymn of love to the ear th. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/ ar tanddesign/2012/jun/15/richard-long-swinging-60s-interview. Last accessed 1st November 2013.

Lubbock, T. (2009). Richard Long: Walks on the wild side. Available: http://www.independent.co.uk/ar ts-enter tainment/ar t/features/richard-long-walks-on-the-wild-side-1694454. html. Last accessed 31st October 2013.

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Macfarlane, R. (2009). Walk the lin. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/ar tanddesign/2009/may/23/richard-long-photography-tate-britain. Last accessed 28th October 2013.

O’Hagan, S. (2009). One Step Beyond. Available: http://www.theguardian.com/ar tanddesign/2009/may/10/ar t-richard-long. Last accessed 15th October 2013.

Websites: Ar t South Africa. (2011). Richard Long: Walks on the wild side. Available: http://ar t-southafrica.com/archives/archived-reviews/213-main-archive/archived-reviews/1795-richardlong-2.html. Last accessed 2nd November 2013.

Burgon, R. (2012). Richard Long: A Line Made by Walking 1967. Available: http://www.tate. org.uk/ar t/ar tworks/long-a-line-made-by-walking-ar00142/text-summary. Last accessed 23rd October 2013.

Fox, E. (2013). RICHARD LONG: A LIFE MADE BY WALKING. Available: http://www.epigram. org.uk/ar ts/interviews/item/1486-richard-long-a- life-made-by-walking. Last accessed 2nd November 2013.

Jackett, S. (2013). Walking the Landscape: The Ar t of Richard Long. Available: http:// landarchs.com/walking-landscape-ar t-richard-long/. Last accessed 15th October 2013.

Kleinsmith, M. (2011). Richard Long: Karoo Highveld exhibition - a continental first!. Available: http://www.iziko.org.za/news/entry/richard-long-karoo-highveld-exhibition-a-continental-first. Last accessed 30th October 2013.

Over ton, T. (2009). Richard Long (1945). Available: http://venicebiennale.britishcouncil. org/people/reference/richard-long. Last accessed 20th October 2013.

Robinson, A et al. (2013). WALK ON: From Richard Long to Janet Cardiff – 40 years of Ar t Walking. Available: http://walk.uk.net/por tfolio/walk-on. Last accessed 15th October 2013.

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Victoria and Alber t Museum. (2012). Politics of Place. Available: http://www.vam.ac.uk/users/node/6913. Last accessed 30th October 2013.

Zaller, R. (2009). Richard Long: Walking as an ar t form. Available: http://www.broadstreetreview.com/ar t-architecture/richard_long_walking_as_an_ar t_form. Last accessed 3rd November 2013.

Image Bibliography: Front Cover: http://www.phaidon.com/agenda/ar t/ar ticles/2012/june/28/richard-long-at-work-in-thestudio/ (3d November 2013) Image 1: http://www.richardlong.org/Sculptures/2011sculptures/linewalking.html (Last accessed: 29th October 2013) Image 2: http://www.richardlong.org/Sculptures/2011sculptures/alaskacirc.html (Last accessed: 3rd November 2013) Image 3: http://www.richardlong.org/Sculptures/2011sculpupgrades/riverpo.html (Last accessed: 3rd November 2013) Image 4: http://www.tate.org.uk/ar t/ar tworks/long-africa-footprints-p77189 (Last accessed: 3rd November 2013) Image 5: http://www.richardlong.org/Sculptures/2011sculptures/karooxing.html

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(Last accessed: 3rd November 2013) Image 6: http://www.richardlong.org/Sculptures/2011sculptures/karoolin.html (Last accessed: 3rd November 2013) Image 7: http://www.richardlong.org/Textworks/2011textworks/29.html (Last accessed: 3rd November 2013) Image 8: http://www.richardlong.org/Textworks/2011textworks/21.html (Last accessed: 3rd November 2013) Image 9: http://www.richardlong.org/Textworks/2011textworks/44.html (Last accessed: 3rd November 2013)

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