1. Walking on solid ground
Walk, Practical Sculptures
During one week I walked through the woods to symbolically connect the celtic cult place with the church.
I decided that I would develop my programmed performance during the walk, while discovering what emerges when you spend one week in the woods, without a tent, without internet or any other modern commodities. All I had was the book, a self-made carpet, a plastic canvas and my dog (and some food).
Each afternoon I would build what I call a practical sculpture, a space cozy enough to spend a night alone in the woods without feeling exposed. Using my sculptural knowledge to help me feel at home in any place.
As time went on, although it was raining most of the time, I felt more and more at ease in the woods, my body posture changed and I started feeling a deep gratitude for being alive. Actually I started to feel deeply connected with my most intimate self.
Of course I wanted to share this feeling with the public, and I started to think about a performance that would translate this inner calm, the connectedness and the sufficiency I was experiencing.
So I decided to bring along four sticks of one of my settlements, and build a little “safe space” in town, next to the church, and embroider four key sentences and their matching symbols on fabrics that I would hang all around myself. Creating some sort of personal “temple” next to the impressive Basilika.
Nora Wagner 