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One day in 2001, I tried to walk a line as straight as possible from my house on Valencia Street in San Francisco to Mission Bay, a region of the city which I consider a kind of home. With an imagined aerial map of the city in mind, I started at my front door and tried to walk the route I believe to be the straightest. However, the actual path at ground level differes rom the imagined map. Obstacles such as traffic, new trees, passersby made it impossible to follow my idealized course.
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Each time I veered from my straightline, I documented the exact places where I had to turn. I plotted these sites to remind myself of these incidences. Failed from the start, this exercise or game functioned as a reminder of the impossibility of idealism and a reconciliation with imperfection. |
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"The voyage of hte best ship is a zigzag line of ahundred tacks. See the line form a sufficient distance, and in straightens itself to the average tendency." --Ralph Waldo Emerson |
Marisa Jahn
TRYING TO WALK A LINE
AS STRAIGHT AS POSSIBLE
by Marisa Jahn
2001
media: walking
performance:
the streets of San Francisco
venue:
Lucky Tackle (Oakland, CA)
21 Grand (Oakland, CA)
AS STRAIGHT AS POSSIBLE
by Marisa Jahn
2001
media: walking
performance:
the streets of San Francisco
venue:
Lucky Tackle (Oakland, CA)
21 Grand (Oakland, CA)