The Line Takes Time
...
within your own spiral
you turned, and turned;
do not think you will not turn again.
Even when you stay somewhere,
you are always leaving.
...
Birhan Keskin, [1] “İz (Trace)” [2]
The Line Takes Time is a walking-based project that explores walking as a time-based drawing practice. The work begins with a simple rule: the walk has a fixed start and end point, but the route between them remains open. The same direction is repeated until the accumulated walking time reaches 24 hours.
The project asks how a walk changes when it is repeated, interrupted, or redirected. Each walk produces a different line. Together, these lines form an accumulation of movement, duration, attention, and memory between the same two points.
What remains from the walks are traces: movement, sound, attention, and small interruptions. The line is not only seen, but also heard and remembered.
In relation to Birhan Keskin’s “İz” , the project thinks of walking as a movement between leaving and returning: even when the route repeats, the line does not stay the same. Each walk becomes another trace of departure.
- Portfolio and short introduction: 260421 Patterns Presentation compressed.pdf
- Mid-term presentation, including previous works and contextualization: 260608 Patterns Presentation compressed.pdf
- Final presentation:Final Presentation .pdf
Method & Technology
- The project uses walking as a method of artistic research. The walks are structured by a simple rule: they take place between a fixed start (dormitory) and end point (university campus), while the route between them remains open. Rather than following the shortest path, each walk allows detours, interruptions, slowing down, pauses, and moments of attention. The same direction is repeated until the accumulated walking time reaches 24 hours.
- The walking data is recorded through a walking application and translated into a line-based notation using a mapping software (Q-GIS) . The aim is not to produce a conventional map, but to investigate the spatio-temporal dimension of the line : how movement, repetition, rhythm, and duration can become visible through drawing. Each walk produces a different line with its x-y-z dimensions, even when it moves between the same two points.
- Technically, the project use GPS-based walking data together with Q-GIS and video editing tools to translate movement and duration into animated line drawings. Sound recordings, such as footsteps, birds, and surrounding noises accompany the visual material as atmospheric traces of the walks. Photographs taken during the walks also appear as small attention marks, documenting moments where the movement was interrupted by looking, noticing, or staying.
- The final output includes animated line drawings, sound recordings, and photographic traces in the form of a diary. Since the project was not exhibited during the summaery, the section below presents a potential installation form of the work.
[Possible] Installation & Data
The project result in a series of walking plots, drawings, video plots, or a line-based installation. These outputs translate walking data into audio-visual patterns of movement, duration, staying, and spatial relation.
- walking line accumulation: [3]
- walking diary: [4]
- walking sounds: [5]
- [possible] installation plan: [6]
References [updated]
- Richard Long
- Hamish Fulton
- Sol LeWitt
- Manfred Mohr
- Tim Ingold
- AmsterdamREALTIME[7]
- Birhan Keskin, “İz”
- George K. Francis - A Topological Picturebook, 1987
- Numberphile - An Unexpected Twist on Möbius Strips [8]
- Dan Graham - Classic and Recent Installations/Pavilions 1974-2008 [9]
- Branko Grunbaum - Tilings and Patterns: Second Edition