Francis Alÿs on walking as resistance

In 2005, Francis Alÿs walked through Jerusalem, recreating the original Green Line drawn on a map as as part of the armistice after the 1948 Arab-Israeli War

Francis Alÿs:

"Walking, in particular drifting, or strolling, is already -- within the speed culture of our time -- a kind of resistance. Paradoxically it's also the last private space, space from the phone or email. But it also happens to be a very immediate method or unfolding stories. It's an easy, cheap act to perform or to invite others to perform. The walk is simultaneously the material out of which to produce art and the modus operandi of the artistic transaction. And the city always offers the perfect setting for accidents to happen.

"There is no theory of walking, just a consciousness. But there can be a certain wisdom involved in the act of walking. It's more an attitude, and it is one that fits me all right. It's a state where you can be both alert to all that happens in your peripheral vision and hearing, and yet totally lost in your thought process..."

From the monograph Francis Alÿs, Phaidon Press, 2007