sara morawetz just walked 1,300 miles for art - laser distance and angle measurer

Sarah Moravitz has just returned from the trek.
In fact, it's a long walk. 2108.
From Dunkirk in northern France to Barcelona is 7 km kilometers, or 1,310 miles --
It's also a great endurance.
Based on performing arts. The Brooklyn-
The nature of scientific methods and time is the most important concern of artists.
In the past, she worked with scientists at MIT's Sloan Kettering Cancer Research Center in New York (MIT)
NASA (NASA (NASA)
National Institute of Standards and Technology.
Her performance/walk, etalong, was in part a tribute to two French astronomers who, at Napoleon's request, made a similar journey along the meridian of 1792, calculating the curvature of the earth, and define the length of 1 m.
When Moravitz had a chance to sit down and ask Forbes some questions about the project a few weeks ago, she had already hung up her boots on the road, including a 87-day walk. (
She also kept a journal, an extraordinary document for an extraordinary journey. )
"It's hard to understand that I walked here from there --
It's done now . " She said. “I’m finished!
I don't think I 've convinced myself that this moment is really possible, and now that I'm in this moment, I'm somehow excited, sad, relaxed and just really tired --
This is the most strange feeling!
Sara, even though you have had a "typical day" in the last few months, can you tell us what a typical day means?
Tell us about your dayto-day gear?
Well, there's a lot of walking involved!
"Étalon" is a collection of walking partnerships.
Every week, I have a different companion to join and we will go a long way --around 100 km—
Draw and record the direction of meridians.
We stand up and walk every day.
We will be 15-
30 km from where we are, through the scenery.
What was incredible at first
You look out at the unknown and you are not sure what will happen in the future.
We did not follow the established route.
Just a rough guide to the Meridian itself.
We will walk on the small road, on the main road, on the hiking Road, along both sides of the field, on the mountain road.
Any way we can find can take us to the south.
Our backpacks are filled with all the usual hiking gear and some of the special items we will use in our investigation: a pair of tripod, laser range --
GPS receiver and reflection folding target.
We will set up these devices in the wild and measure the Earth.
In the end, "etalong" was designed to investigate the meridians, so a large part of the daily work was to stop and measure.
By calculating the distance and angle between two points in the landscape, we can estimate the curvature of the planet
Collect data on the radius and circumference of the Earth.
Historically, "matter" is defined as a small part of the size of the Earth.
By measuring my own size and walking out of the distance, I intend to extract the metrics I made myself --
A measure obtained by physical action.
From the historical basis and your own concept of "etalong" as a project, what is the story behind "etalong?
The lovely thing about the history of rice is that it is the length extracted from the Earth itself.
It was originally adopted in the 1790 s.
A year of scientific investigation began to measure the Meridian length between Dunkirk and Barcelona and obtain an estimate of the size of the Earth.
The expedition was organized by the French Academy of Sciences, with the participation of two astronomers, Delambre and Méchain, who will work at both ends of the Meridian to conduct a detailed investigation of the land.
Using the data they collect, the length of the meter is set to 1-
One millionth of the distance between the Arctic and the equator (
A quadrant of the Earth).
While modern measurements have undergone some minor adjustments since then and have now been calibrated through the speed of light, the expedition and the calculations carried out inside it are still the basis of the measurements still being used today.
When I found out the details of the journey, I was immediately convinced that it should be a show --
I will try to hike through the distance, measure my own size and build the size I made myself.
I think there is something poetic and profound in this story --
This section of land is reflected by measurement, I will understand the instrument, landscape and measurement itself by walking behavior
Let my own footsteps resist this huge arc engraved on the surface of the Earth.
As an artist, my work often goes back to the idea of standardizing and measuring.
As a language or conceptual tool, I started thinking about these systems and all the choices and ambiguities that support them --
They represent the way our society is connected to the physical world, and even the way it is connected beyond the physical world.
I think we use these devices to generate a collective or common view.
Cultivate people who have a certain view of the world around us.
John Karkin, a cultural theorist, once wrote: "We shape our tools, and then our tools shape us.
"I often reflect on this emotion when I walk.
I have a feeling that during your trip you will talk to people who are not very familiar with endurance --
Based on performing arts.
How do you describe or explain the project to them?
I was surprised by the help, friendliness and inclusion of everyone.
I had expected a variety of problems, but people provided me with food, water, shelter and encouragement.
Everyone is very generous!
I have had the most touching communication in the past few months and the reaction of people to this project has surprised me.
I think bringing contemporary art practice into people's livesto-
Life of the day helps uncover its mystery
Make the performing arts more tangible
In addition to the traditional stage or gallery, something that can exist, something that simply happens in daily life.
I always find that there is a lot to talk about with everyone I meet: the distance of travel, the towns and landscapes along the way, the nature of walking, our participation in the environment, science, meridians, measured behavior, feminism and experience as a woman walking.
I feel that as a kind of performance, "etalong" is inseparable from all of these concepts.
Do you think that your past project was the most direct predecessor of the idea you accepted through "etalong?
My work "How the Stars Stand" (2015)
I think this is probably the most directly related.
This is one of the first pieces of my work on the concept of normalization, with a focus on time issues.
I want to know when it is.
Measure what it means and whether it's really everywhere.
I live in a gallery.
Open source Brooklyn)
Experience "time" on Mars "--
Live, work and sleep in the gallery for 37 Earth days (36 Martian soil).
This is the time it takes to drop out of these two systems (and back into)synchronicity.
It was a crazy experience!
But made a good preparation for "etalong"
As a performer, I think it helps me to be clear about my approach --
Put yourself in the center of each survey as an experimental device.
"How the Stars Stand" and "etalong" have a common desire to understand the life experience of measurement and physical embodiment.
What training, research and preparation did you undertake before departure?
Like measuring our own behavior, walking is an activity we do every day.
It is so important that we forget that it used to be the only way we traveled.
It is closely related to the survival of our human beings.
It's slow, laborious
Distance is no way, it takes time, you have to endure.
You can only walk at a certain speed and cover only a certain amount of ground.
This slowdown allows the environment to show itself and you to show yourself in it.
I did the best training I could think.
Walk as much as possible!
In the six months before the start of "étalon", I basically stopped taking public transport and took to the streets!
I walk there no matter which city I happen to be in, so I end up roaming around Paris, Sydney and New York to practice.
I started covering a distance of 10 km and worked slowly to 20-25 km per day.
I'm getting used to the feeling of walking and the time it takes to get out of place --to-place.
It's always fun when I need to schedule a meeting or meet up with friends, as I need to set aside a few hours to reach a specific destination --
Thank God, everyone is very accommodating.
They knew I was training and got on the boat completely!
How will you plan your emotional and psychological journey?
To be honest, it's exhausted --
The hardest thing I ever did
It takes every inch of your effort.
Believe this idea no matter how painful your back or your foot is --
How much do you want to stop?
Not only do you believe in yourself, but you also believe in the group of people you brought to this place --
The person who walked with you
You have to invest for them.
You must go deep into yourself every day and find the desire to continue walking --
Desire to continue.
Then, somehow, things change for you and suddenly your body wants to go --
It becomes an unquestionable part of your daily life.
We must go today.
We must measure today.
There are no other options or ideas to consider
This is the foundation of life now.
Once this happens, the movement of the body becomes easier.
It becomes the embodiment.
I find it a bit difficult to draw a chart.
The beauty of repetition and endless is gone on you.
There are tears. So many tears.
But once you shout them out, you will get back up and do it again.
You find the determination you don't know.
Walking 20 km every day is very hard for the body.
At first, there is a pain in your ankle and then it becomes a pain in your knee and then a pain in your hip.
You will realize how these mechanisms relate to each other.
You feel pain bouncing in your body, and every small example will have an impact on the next few days and weeks.
There is really no breathing mechanism.
At the same time, the muscles are also strengthening.
The body tilts and adapts to the inside.
I gave this project a lot myself.
I have sacrificed a year of my life to cross a country.
Walking on the path of pursuing an idea, I believe I will learn something I don't know yet, in this vast land, there are things that cannot be determined only from the spiritual understanding of things.
I believe I will learn something about the inherent, physically embedded meters.
Why am I doing this?
I can't tell you.
I just think I need to do it.
I believe that art is to find the basic truth in an idea, and that "etalong" is involved in these terms.
What scenes or experiences have impressed you the most in the past few weeks?
Walking is slow, hard and hard.
Every part of your body is in pain and you will be suspended in both states.
You drift towards the scenery
Absorbed by the small details of things: the light falling on the field, through the wind of barley, the gravel at the foot;
Then you go back to the heart, back to the feeling of your body, how things are painful and stiff, and then further into all your fears and doubts, and the endless array of concerns surrounding projects of this size.
But you just have to go on.
Each day is one step closer to the destination, and every step through is the knowledge gained.
I don't think what I can expect when I enter the French countryside.
I stayed in Paris for a while and crossed France on a car and train, but by limiting your movements to your body, the movement of your own feet on the ground, your perception of the environment and your position in it has been significantly changed.
No compromise!
Parts that you don't want to see, or those that are hard to cross, are not skipped.
You have to go through everything and do so to witness a unique cross
Part of a country like now.
Walking with women is a conscious choice.
Project name: "étalon" has a double meaning in French
A model of stallion, and male horse.
I was fascinated by the combination of etymology.
The concept of normalization is also to some extent male.
Just like science, especially science is a male enterprise.
As a female artist using scientific materials, exploring this narrative is an opportunity to counter these historical frameworks and take back ideas from a unique female perspective.
Walking like a woman should be a pointless proposition. That it wasn’t—
Many people are obsessed with our security and our ability to undertake such a task --speaks volumes.
Finally, what do you expect most, post-project?
I think what I'm looking forward to most is a distance from it --
The opportunity to take a step back and reflect.
I walked through the curve of the Earth
I walk through an arc that my eyes can't detect but represents a latitude of 10 degrees.
It's an easy thing to say, but it's a bit difficult to understand.
Like the Earth is big, and I measure its vastness at my own pace, I must now step back and look at my actions in the same way.
Not as a separate step, but as part of a whole.
I look forward to sleeping too.
Hang up my boots for a while
"Ettalon" by the Australian Government through the Australian Council, its arts funding and advisory body, the QAGOMA Foundation through the Vida Lahey Memorial travel scholarship, the new State Art Gallery, the International Arts Centre and Pratt college.