Route: no specific route, derive - central London
Duration: 6 hours
Time of day: late afternoon into evening
Map: resisting the urge to use the map (a shitty tourist freebie from the hostel), part pride - I know London like the back of my hand hahaha- and part intention for research. Later, I get given a gallery guide map and the gallery (Ordovas) is so tiny, the work so recognisable (Warhol and Lichtenstein) that I make a real point of playing with it because it's really quite redundant. It's a fun show. Giant green polyurethane cactus (Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, Radiant Cactus 2017) encourage you to weave in and out and create lines and routes. It's a reprieve from the intensity of the streets.
Hyper awareness: It's been so long since I was last in London I feel the uncomfortable sensation of being out of a comfort zone. It seems Devon has changed me. Parochial-ness has grabbed me. I am wide eyed and gullible and over stimulated after five minutes of walking down to Willesden Green tube.
Pedestrian battles: pedestrians own the turf and defy the aggressive traffic. i like. It's not polite but it has a truth.
Hordes: however - no longer am I a wandering solo pedestrian - we are legion. I dodge and weave and daren't slow down to dawdle and wander in case I’m crushed or worse: judged.
Stranger: aloneness : despite the crowds, the volume of bodies, the conversations filling the air I am carrying my loneliness like a hi-vis shroud on my back. I think of Olivia Laing and find comfort in her approach. It transcends into creative observation play, I almost forget I am utterly alone. I try and slow down on Regent Street and channel Virginia Wolf. It's hard to stay your own pace in this super highway pedestrianism of now but by conjuring up these literary friends I cope.
Duration: 6 hours
Time of day: late afternoon into evening
Map: resisting the urge to use the map (a shitty tourist freebie from the hostel), part pride - I know London like the back of my hand hahaha- and part intention for research. Later, I get given a gallery guide map and the gallery (Ordovas) is so tiny, the work so recognisable (Warhol and Lichtenstein) that I make a real point of playing with it because it's really quite redundant. It's a fun show. Giant green polyurethane cactus (Guido Drocco and Franco Mello, Radiant Cactus 2017) encourage you to weave in and out and create lines and routes. It's a reprieve from the intensity of the streets.Hyper awareness: It's been so long since I was last in London I feel the uncomfortable sensation of being out of a comfort zone. It seems Devon has changed me. Parochial-ness has grabbed me. I am wide eyed and gullible and over stimulated after five minutes of walking down to Willesden Green tube.
Pedestrian battles: pedestrians own the turf and defy the aggressive traffic. i like. It's not polite but it has a truth.
Hordes: however - no longer am I a wandering solo pedestrian - we are legion. I dodge and weave and daren't slow down to dawdle and wander in case I’m crushed or worse: judged.
Stranger: aloneness : despite the crowds, the volume of bodies, the conversations filling the air I am carrying my loneliness like a hi-vis shroud on my back. I think of Olivia Laing and find comfort in her approach. It transcends into creative observation play, I almost forget I am utterly alone. I try and slow down on Regent Street and channel Virginia Wolf. It's hard to stay your own pace in this super highway pedestrianism of now but by conjuring up these literary friends I cope.
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