Reading Response 3

I chose to respond to "Walking as Do-It-Yourself Urbanism" by Kenny Cuper because after completing the drift walks for my final art project, I found it easier to understand the relationshp between city planners and city users. This article explores that relationship in depth.

Cuper explains a brief description of radicalism in urban environments and then goes on to explain how walking can be a form of transformation for a city. Through walking, a city user can explore more of a city, as well as continue the tension between rest and walk. This tension is a fuel to the walk which can be used as a source for art. The article was accompanied by several still images from a similair art expiriment, and show clearly the type of exploration that can occur when one radically uses their own urban environment.

Until this articel I had not truly understand the purpose of "finding" material to use. Now I understand that in order to break away from the pre-planned path, in order to emerge with a new set of eyes, one must break away from the normal. Being radical was never a bad thing in my opinion anyway. I enjoy the idea of still being capable of exploring something that has already been explored. The urban jungle can be just as dangerous or adventurous as the jungles of South America or Africa during the colonial spread of Europe. (That is just my own thought after reading this.) It is interesting to me how much the world can open up through this walking method.