Representations and Reinterpretations of Walking

Alexandra Rodrigues

The present work is structured as an exercise of recognition, representation, reinterpretation and a project in a specific territory through the act of walking. In the middle of the XX century, many artist explored a new way of making art through the act of walking and the path itself as a sculptoric object. Inspired by many of this references we experiment their technics in order to adapt and optimize them to create new ways of Representations and Reinterpretations of Walking. This guidelines can be established by studying the Rua das Dunas in Castelo do Neiva, Viana do Castelo. The first approach is the investigation of the local community’s reality and the evolutive processes of Castelo do Neiva. Next, according to the place’s characteristics, the Urban to the Viewpoint defines the direction for the baseline of the narrative’s construction. These reflect on the diversificated subjects found when walking on two different positions: inside (alongside the street) and outside (by its longitudinal limits). Each one of these subjects originated the creation of a new cartography for this place. With this work of exploring the reality of the place, we proposed ourselves to look again to the created material and question about the cartography and the problems found. This reinterpretation phase occurs on three different levels: firstly, there’s a reinterpretation of the themes selected from the cartography; secondly, there’s a reinterpretation about the representation methods created on the mapping; at last, there’s a reinterpretation on the work of artists known for their reflection about nature, the place and the impact of it’s interventions. The general intentions, the acting methods and pormenorization are respectivly established. This way, this work finishes with an intervention project, which assumes the unstable and seasonal character of Rua das Dunas. In this work, walking comes as a tool which promotes a new understanding of the reality of a specific territory and a larger bonding relationship with the conditions of existence.