Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Richard Long
TIME AND SPACE
Friday 31 July Sunday 15 November 2015
INTRODUCTION
As a profoundly simple way of relating to the world around us, and
specifically the natural environment, Richard Longs work is about
acts of measurement. Walking alone in the landscape is central to his
approach. It is a basic, though powerful, way to experience the natural
world through physical effort, which he uses as a method both to
measure time and space and create works about his experiences. His
style is immediately recognisable, combining minimal and conceptual
art practices with a quality that connects to the most ancient traces of
humankinds relationship with the land.
LEVEL 2: GALLERY 5
For this gallery, Long has selected new fingerprint driftwood drawings,
a format much less well known amongst Longs work. The scale is
more intimate than the pieces downstairs, though in their use of raw,
natural materials, and a repetitive, precise technique, there are strong
similarities. In both instances, a kind of Zen-like artistic freedom is found
through the rigid adherence to a predetermined, repetitive form. It is
possible to say something similar about the way that Long has remained
true to the same approaches walks, stone sculptures, mud works
through the entirety of his career, distilling a simple practice down to its
most profound form, rather than focussing on technical innovation for its
own sake.
KEY TERMS
Whilst not belonging to a single movement, Richard Longs work can be
understood by looking at:
Conceptual Art
The term emerged in the late 1960s to describe a shift whereby artists
chose to prioritise an idea or concept over the production of a traditional
art object. From this it follows that conceptual art can be almost
anything, however certain trends appeared such as Performance (or
Action) art, Land or Environmental art and the Italian movement Arte
Povera.
Minimalism
Starting in the late 1950s Minimalism grew from the idea, key to the
Abstract art movement, that art should not seek to represent anything,
but should instead create its own reality. The audience therefore
responds to what is in front of them, typically the material and the form
within which it has been placed.
IMPORTANT IDEAS
Walking as Art
Since 1967 Richard Long has taken the idea that walking can be seen
as a form of sculpture. This radical idea removes the need for physical
objects, allowing him to measure himself directly against the landscape
as he records his movements through both physical space and the time
that passes. Through this idea the body emerges as Longs primary tool
for making work.
Lines, circles and crosses are important to the work. A line can talk about
constantly moving forwards, whilst also connecting abstract ideas to
ancient traditions of pilgrimage. Circles point towards cycles, linking
the earths movements to the simplest of gestures, whilst crosses serve
to mark space in a definitive manner. Different landscapes are drawn
together through the repetition of these symbols.
Rules
Repetition
Long often sets himself rules such as the distance and shape of a walk
before he begins. These rules form the basis of the work, which is then
realised through the act of walking.
Impermanence
Whilst walking Long makes site specific sculptures by quietly
rearranging the natural objects around him. These works, typically made
in no more than half an hour, are not preserved but disappear in their own
time, overtaken by the forces of nature.
Creating a record
Long uses photography, maps and text to record his actions, which are
often seen by few people. He favours simple and minimal approaches,
creating a document to help our imagination, rather than adding to
what has already been made. The artwork itself remains the action, be it
walking or rearranging natural objects.
The use of text has been compared to Concrete Poetry, where the visual
arrangement of words and letters contribute to the works meaning.
Whilst there are parallels, Long does not belong to a particular group, but
instead sees writing as another tool at his disposal.
A sense of scale
Scale is important to Long with gestures ranging from making marks
with fingerprints through to walks of up to a thousand miles. Similar
to this, works and ideas often start in locations close to home in Bristol
before spreading out across sites around the world. Regardless of the
place or scale, Long maintains the same approach, applying his language
regardless of what is in front of him.
QUICK ACTIVITIES
Walking
Drawing
1. Ask students to measure the gallery space by walking from one side
of the room to the other. How many steps does it take? How much time
passed? After crossing the room once, try again but walking faster,
slower, in large steps or small. Try walking with your eyes closed or on
tip toes. After this, ask students to find other ways to measure the space
using their bodies. This could involve lying top to tail or using their arms.
Questions to ask: What do you notice about the room when you walk
faster or slower? Did you choose to walk in a straight line or did you
make your own path? How else could you measure the space?
2. Ask students to walk across the space and record an observation every
ten steps, using all of their senses. Every student can walk in a different
way, from criss-crossing the room, to walking in a circle. Ask them to
write down their observations, thinking about the different words they
could use.
After this, give each student three sheets of paper and ask them to
present their observations as different text works, experimenting with
both layout and language.
Questions to ask: How did you choose the words to record your
observations? Why did you lay them out in those patterns? Does
the pattern relate to the walk? Do you think the text work you made
accurately documents the walk you took? How do you think you could
continue this activity outside?
Both of these activities can be started in the gallery but should preferably
be continued outside. Ask students to think about different places that
theyd like to explore, using walking as a tool. This could anywhere local
places, where walking becomes a form of mapping, through to places of
special importance.
1. Ask students to close their eyes before handing them a natural object.
Holding the object under the table (so no cheating occurs) ask students
to draw it, depicting what it feels like.
After they have done this, ask them to change objects with the person
next to them and try again.
Encourage students to make the simplest drawings they can. This could
involve asking them to just draw the outline, or drawing the object
without lifting their pencil from the paper.
Questions to ask: Where do you think the object might come from?
What is it like to present how an object feels rather than how it looks?
How can you use different senses to create a record?
LONGER ACTIVITIES
Moving sculpture
FULL PROJECT
Aim: To think about the different ways that a space can be documented
Collect a range of different papers all cut to the same size. Ask students
to choose a site or a series of sites and complete a different activity on
each sheet that records their chosen place in a different way. Some ideas
could be:
Leave your paper out in the rain or submerge it in a puddle in your
location
Try to embed a smell from a natural object into your paper
Take a print or rubbing from an object in your location
Record all the sounds you hear over an hour spent in your location
Take photographs, making sure some pages are left blank in order to
include them
After this is done the pages can be bound together to form a book, or
hung up and presented as an exhibition. This could be approached as an
individual or group project.
BIOGRAPHY
FURTHER RESOURCES
An extensive public programme has been developed to accompany this
exhibition. Please see our website for further details.
You are also welcome to bring your pupils on a self facilitated visit but we
ask that you let us know in advance if you plan to visit the gallery.
To book your workshop or learn more about our schools membership
programme please email ben.thomas@arnolfini.org.uk or look at our
website.