Walking Art Practice: Reflections on Socially Engaged Paths¿

Ernesto Pujol here combines elements from an art book, field journal and walkers' manifesto. It is a text for performative artists, art students, and all who walk as cultural activism. Walking Art Practice is a collection of intimate reflections by the author, which bring together his experiences as a former monk, performance artist, social choreographer and educator. They serve as a provocation, walkers' manifesto and teaching guide for walking as mindful cultural activism. This book is an invitation to: Rethink what it means to walk and explore different ways in which to walk as: a cultural practice ~ a meditative practice ~ a radical practice ~ art ~ healing ~ social engagement. Reconsider how to attend to the inner and outer landscape whilst walking. Treat walking as a performance resource. Walk as an everyday pilgrimage. Walk slowly, walk in and with awareness, walk with and without skill, walk to regain and to lose control... "¿Artists are trying to move away from the influence of competitive corporate culture that has increasingly defined art as an abrasive urban career. Artists are trying to replace this with the humbler notion of art as a practice, as a mindful way of life, consisting of consciously creative gestures, visible and invisible, large and small. Art practice is a private and public, selfless and generous, creative life process resulting in a conscious cultural product."