Image from ‘Liverpool to Liverpool’
Simon Faithful is a British artist based in Berlin. His work explores the use of walking as a medium- linking metaphorical and physical movement, as well as examining human interaction with the geographical environment. He often takes a novel and playful approach.
‘0°00 Navigation’ is a series of video works of a figure who emerges from the sea with a GPS in hand and proceeds to walk along the 0°00’00” line of longitude. When he encounters an obtacle, he traverses it in the most direct way possible, and continues on his journey. The figure passes through London and the Midlands, and eventually re-enters the sea. The work examines the idea of the geographical construct, where the line of longitude is treated as though it were a physical presence.
Faithfull’s ‘Going Nowhere’ is a series of films showing a protagonist who appears to be locked into perpetual and futile journeys. The first of the short films features a man who is circling the boundary of an island in the north sea. The boundary slowly reduces as the tide comes in, eventually submerging the island. The work references Michel Houellebecq’s The Possibility of an Island. In the second film, the man walks fully dressed along the sea floor. He walks in a straight line away from the viewer until disappearing into the darkness of the ocean. In both works, the man seems purposeful, yet from a privileged viewpoint, the viewer can see he is going nowhere. The work seems like a metaphor for our mortal existence, as well as critiquing the idea of progress.
‘Liverpool to Liverpool’ is a work that I find particularly interesting. Faithfull carried out a month’s journey from Liverpool, UK to Liverpool, Nova Scotia, completing 181 drawings during the route. His aim was to trace some of the trade routes that helped build the city into what it is today. The drawings were then installed at Liverpool, UK by sandblasting them into paving stones and plate glass at a central area. The drawings include their geographical location. I like that Faithfull was able to share his journey with his audience, and that people of one location were provided a window into another. Physically engraving the artwork into the city reflects the idea of the route being integral to the building of the city itself.
I think it would be interesting to explore this idea of geographical location, especially in our age of digital communication. It might be interesting to bring evidence of specific locations into the digital space, where there exists no physical location.The place could then be accessed from any location.
Source- https://www.simonfaithfull.org/works/liverpool-to-liverpool/