Hamish Fulton Kent Walk 2
Hamish Fulton Kent Walk 2
Wednesday 3 March 2010
Over 200 people braved the cold to take part in a group walk with Hamish Fulton around the Marine Bathing Pool,
Seen from the promenade, the walkers appeared to trace a continuous line on the beach while for those taking part, the experience was described as being peaceful, meditative and serene.
- The moving silhouette shapes were mesmerizing against the sea and sky.
- Great to participate in a group experience.
- It was a fabulous experiene.
- I felt consumed by my surroundings, my mind was set free from my 'to do' list. Thank you for letting me experience this.
- It was like a bizarre interesting long dream.
- I felt I found inner peace, I loved it.Mesmerising.I didn't want to stop so I will keep going on and on in my dreams tonight in my bed walking.Visually beautiful - a meditative experience. Very pleased to have taken part.A man walking his dogs said we looked like a Lowry painting that he liked. I had the sensation that there was no-one behind me - they were all in front.Great sense of achievement. A good memory.I felt very energized and refreshed by the walk, it made me feel very at peace. It was really surreal to look around and see a moving human line which I was a part of. A very worthwhile and interesting experience - despite the cold. I felt very united with this group of strangers and felt I was experiencing and building a relationship between myself, the people and the beach itself.
This was the second in a series of walks by Hamish Fulton commissioned by Turner Contemporary.
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A Group Art Walk in Canterbury led by artist Hamish Fulton
Thursday 29 January 2009
On Thursday 29 January 2009, forty people took part in a group art walk in Canterbury led by artist Hamish Fulton. The walk followed a circular route around the outside perimeter of Canterbury's original city walls. The only stipulations to participants were that the walk must be undertaken in silence, in single file, and maintaining a distance of approximately 4 metres between each person.
Although he has led many group walks in Europe and beyond, this was the first time that Hamish has led one in this country, and it was the first of three walks that Turner Contemporary have commissioned from him ahead of the opening of the new gallery in 2011. Participants for this walk were recruited from the University for the Creative Arts, Canterbury, where Hamish gave a talk about his practice in December 2008. Additional images of the walk can be viewed via a Powerpoint slide show from the link at the bottom of this page. The file is large so may a few moments to download.
Hamish Fulton on group art walks:
Group art walks use what is already there
- involving no new three dimensional construction.
What is built, is an experience.
Group art walks bring together varying numbers of people
Who may be considered as "participant observers".
(Unlike a drawing, once a walk has been completed it cannot be erased.)
One intention of group walks is to experience comparisons
Within the routines of our daily lives
such as the individual walking to work in a crowd.
Urban walking is often considered in conventional terms;
Walking to the bus stop, walking to the store,
Walking the dog and walking only in daylight hours.
"Art walks" encourage inventiveness,
Creating new perceptions
Of familiar neighbourhoods -
Transforming our sense of purpose.
Choreographed in cities,
These walks are not limited to recreation
And being "outdoors"
They also change our sense of time -
Generating a momentary shift
Out of our worn brain furrows.
Biography
Hamish Fulton's art focuses on an engagement with the environment and the self through the experience of walking. He describes himself as a 'walking artist' resisting the limitations of the terms 'land artist', 'performance artist' or sculptor. In exhibitions he has often produced photography, text work and sketches that evolve from the experience of a particular walk. For Fulton, "walking is an art form in its own right, its does not have to be a lesser form of land art". Since deciding to "only make art resulting from the experience of individual walks", Hamish Fulton has walked in over 25 countries for over three decades. His influeces are vast with interests including the culture of American Indians and the mindfulness and meditation of Buddhists monks. For 2 days in 2009 he was the oldest British person to have summated Mount Everest and while he does not claim to be a climber or mountaineer his walks have increasingly embraced the challenge of summiting some of the world's largest mountains. Among these expeditions, documented in a recent exhibition at Hausler Contemporary Zurich, was A Guided Mountaineering Expedition to the Summit of Denali at 20.320 Ft, Alaska May-June 2004, entitled 'This is Not Land Art'
Hamish Fulton currently lives in Canterbury.
Born: 1946
Studied 1964-69 Hammersmith College of Art, London
St. Martin's School of Art, London
Royal College of Art, London
Programme financed with the support of the European programme Interreg lva.
For more information and a detailed C.V please go to: www.hamish-fulton.com
