Plymouth arts venues join forces for acclaimed national exhibition - The Box, Plymouth

By: Jo Clarke
Added: 26 September 2014

‘Walk On: From Richard Long to Janet Cardiff – 40 Years of Art Walking’ will be on display until Saturday 13 December.

The nationally touring show is presented as a multi-site exhibition across Peninsula Arts (Plymouth University), Plymouth Arts Centre, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery and The Gallery at Plymouth College of Art.

Walk On will give local culture fans a great opportunity to see a range of works by nearly 40 different artists. Some of them are emerging. Some of them are well established. All of them have used the universal act of walking to inspire and influence their work.

Internationally-acclaimed American artists Marina Abramović and Bruce Nauman, Canadian-born, Berlin-based sound artist Janet Cardiff and Belgian-born Francis Alÿs, whose work was shown at Tate in 2010 and New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 2011, give the show a decidedly international flavour.

Influential British artists such as Richard Wentworth, who was awarded a CBE for services to the arts in the 2011 New Year Honours list; Julian Opie, who produced the artwork for Blur’s ‘Best Of’ album in 2000 as well as LED projections for U2’s 2005-6 ‘Vertigo’ world tour and 2002 Turner Prize nominee Catherine Yass are also included.

Plymouth and Devon have also influenced some of the artists in the exhibition, including 1989 Turner Prize winner Richard Long and leading British landscape photographer Jem Southam. Fellow photographer Simon Pope will work with local fine art students to produce a brand new work as part of the exhibition, while Hamish Fulton will lead a unique group walk event on Saturday 6 December.

The exhibition features a variety of two- and three-dimensional pieces from video and sound to performance and photography. Some of the artists have crossed countries and continents to create the works that are on display. Others use images, texts or objects to document their journeys. For some the walk itself is the work.

Dom Jinks, Director of Plymouth Culture said: “From performance to photography, from land art to conceptual art, Walk On shows how much of the important art of our time has been created through the act of walking.

“The exhibition builds on the relationship established by these four key cultural Plymouth venues, who previously worked together in 2011 to host the final highly successful leg of ‘British Art Show 7: In The Days of The Comet’.

Deputy Council Leader Peter Smith said: “It’s good to see local organisations collaborating and working in partnership on a project that brings such a variety and high calibre of art to the city.”

An exciting event programme will also run while Walk On is on display. The programme includes a special launch weekend (3 to 4 October), guided walks, family activities and talks by some of the artists featured in the show.