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'Walking East. A conscious walk along the Jacobean route conveys the importance of nature.

Hamish Fulton

24 | 03 | 2022

The Museo Universidad de Navarra presented to the media the exhibition Walking East. The event was attended by the English artist, Hamish Fulton, its curator, Pep Benlloch, and one of the Museum's artistic directors, Valentin Vallhonrat. Among the audience were also Santiago Olmos -director of the CGAC, Centre Galego de Arte Contemporánea, co-producing institution of the exhibition-, Mira Bernabé -from the Madrid gallery Mira 1, representative of the artist.

The exhibition shows a route of the Camino starting from Finisterre, in the direction of Santiago de Compostela, and its continuation towards Pamplona and Roncesvalles, through the Pyrenees to Hendaye. In addition, works from other walks and periods of the artist allow us to contemplate the evolution of his career and artistic restlessness.

"The baseline of my vital work is to convey the importance of nature" stated the artist. "The art that we are going to see in this exhibition is related to two activities. The first is the physical experience of walking through different areas, even through the rooms of the exhibition. The second is the materialization of thoughts and sensations that I experienced while walking through those areas." The artist is aware that the people who see his work do not exactly perceive the walk he reflects and it always requires the imagination of the viewer, who tries to figure out that path, to complete its meaning.

FORMS OF REPRESENTATION

The exhibition brings together works that use various forms of representation. First, large wall murals with text depict short, one-hour walks that were made collectively and in urban environments. These murals can be found mainly in the Sala Fundación "La Caixa".

The Torre room has several limited edition photographic series. The first is a series of images and materials documenting high and low points in different locations in the northern and southern hemispheres. This material is much smaller in scale, capturing experiences of much larger dimensions.

The series with wooden pieces visually, briefly and specifically describe long walks and incorporate texts about the walk that originates them.

In the evolution of the artist's works, from the 70's to the present, a purification of the supports can be seen. After the beginnings reflected in photographs and accompanied by small descriptive texts, his work has been evolving towards the elimination of the image and focusing on words.

For Fulton, when making an exhibition, the comparison between photography and text is important, which allows for new relationships. "But the coexistence is something I like(...) The purpose is not to eliminate the photo and leave the text, but I wanted to compare both media. The photo defines the place in a very fast and immediate way. And in the murals it doesn't describe anything, we don't know what the photograph looks like, or the walk that motivated them."

THE UPSIDE DOWN WAY

Why do the road backwards? The artist affirms that in the Middle Ages all those who walked the Jacobean Route made their way from their home to Santiago and then returned, a two-way walk. Today, people decide to go to Santiago from wherever they are and return home by other means, the circle is not closed, there is no complete walk.

"I am an artist who walks, not a pilgrim" and this can be seen in the fact that the pilgrim travels in a personal and individual way along a path that has already been traced. The pilgrim has an enormous importance for himself and travels a path designed by all. In the case of Hamish Fulton, the selection of the "backwards" route joins points from previous walks that make sense in his work.

CONCERNS OF A WALKING ARTIST

The past of empires, Brexit, pilgrimage, migrations, refugees, individual and collective paths, ecology and the climate crisis... These are all present elements that are reflected in the work of this walking artist and are part of his concerns. For example, the maps shown in his works do not show border lines. In the artist's opinion "borders, as a human construct, make separations, isolate, subtract freedom from the walker and distance him from the unity of the landscape that he experiences when he travels on foot."

Technology interposes a filter between the person and the experience. It is very different to experience nature firsthand or to see it in a documentary film. For Fulton, all this technology could not have come about if all life forms were given importance, all these inventions only benefit humans. "I think the past year has been incredible in terms of ecological crises on the planet."

THANK YOU

"This exhibition, said Pep Benlloch, has been possible thanks to the collaboration of many people and centers that have contributed, in very complicated times like those of last year, to the realization of this project. The curator is a mediator or companion of the artist and the funds. The constant dialogue between the institution, the curator and the artist brings the projects closer to the viewer, projects that express in a resounding way what the artist wants to say."

The artist joined in this appreciation by holding two very different community walks yesterday, one on the Campus and the other in the city. In the first, Walking in Every Direction, the artist proposed to a mostly young audience a fast walk in all directions, occupying the entire space. In the second, SLOWALK, which had the collaboration of the Pamplona City Council, the participants walked 6 meters in one hour. It is through these ideas that the artist wanted to transfer the experience to the visitor of the exhibition beyond the halls. "The result is always unpredictable," he says.

This is the artist's invitation to the Walking East exhibition: for the visitor to stroll and become a spectator and a walker at the same time.

The exhibition will occupy the "La Caixa" Foundation Hall, on floor 0, and the Torre del Museo Universidad de Navarra Hall from March 24 to September 4, 2022. The Museum organizes several complementary activities around this exhibition.