Performative Walking or Pedestrian Performance?
I went along to take part in a forum for Phil Smith’s Mythogeographic research on Saturday. It was an interesting day spent discussing his works so far - some of which I’ve been fortunate to walk.
The major question for me though in relation to my own research is the difference between ‘performative’ and ‘performance’. For the last year and a half I have been using them interchangeably when actually they have different meanings. I panicked slightly when I realised as my writing so far has been clear as to which of these I am focusing on.
For example, a Pedestrian Performance contains conventions of a performance event which is walked through. For example Mike Pearson’s Bubbling Tom features a guided walk in which an invited audience is given a guidebook (or program) and witnesses a learnt speech recounted by a performer (even if here the performer is playing a younger version of themselves).
A performative walk however, is generally of a more subtle orientation in which any walk can be deemed performative or interpreted as a performance. The example Phil used was of the Mis-Guide books, themselves not a performance, but a means in which to create performative walks.
My PhD as it stands, seems to incorporate both these strands, even though in some instances I state I’m researching performative walking and in others, pedestrian performance. One chapter, examines the different geographies of the stage and the Pedestrian Performances within them, whilst one looks at my own practice and the psychogeography of simple walks (a walk around Exeter’s City walls), personal ones (My 25) and those which sit between performative walking and live art (the white carpet in Torbay).
I think it may be too late to focus on one rather than the other as I’m interested in both, nevertheless this journey within my thesis from the performance to the performative is a walk in itself that cannot be ignored.
