THE MUSEUM AS A SITE AND SOURCE FOR LEARNING, THE UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW Task: “You will be posting it on the padlet to share with others. So where to start? To make it easy for you we have chosen something that everyone has access to–SHOES. Your exhibition will be about shoes and you can choose any approach.” exhibition draft by tanja müller
No Shoe You were looking forward an exhibition on shoes? Working boots, cowboy boots, uggs, climbing shoes, ballet shoes, earth shoes, high-heeled footwear, clogs, brogue shoes, chelsea boots, sneakers, derby shoes, wedges, turnshoes, snow boots ... –so many boots are out there. Well, here is a suprise for you and your feet: Before entering, we kindly ask you to take off your shoes!
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Let us begin our journey by looking at the fresco painting “The creation of Adam” (1508–1512) by Italian artist Michelangelo. Besides Adam, being fully nude, we witness god covered in linen, barefooted. Naked feet–a divine attitude towards life?
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“The most natural and easiest means of inurement remains to walk barefooted.”, said Bavarian priest Sebastian Kneipp (1821– 1897). He is most commonly associated with the “Kneipp Cure” form of hydrotherapy, the application of water for healing purposes. Illustration by Max Albert, 1885)
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Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn’s adventures are better when it comes to showing bare feet: the boys are unshod most of the time, and it looks perfectly natural. “Shoes” –Marc Twain said “are only for church”. (Image “Tom Sawyer”, 1930)
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Naked feet can even become an object of sexual desire: Foot fetishism, or podophilia, is a pronounced sexual interest in feet. Covered with thousands of nerve endings, intense sensations can easily be triggered on this body part. (Photography by Sacred Sadism, 2019)
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Until today, walking barefooted is often connected to the free spirit way of life that hippies live according to. Both men and women in the hippie movement wore sandals, moccasins or went barefoot–symbol of freedom and connection to earth.
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If you feel a sudden desire for walking barefooted, even in the urban jungle–there is a good option: Recently, shoe designers work hard on creating shoes that rewild the feet and create a safe feeling of wearing no shoe.