Petra Johnson


Petra Johnson is a German born artist who engages in an art practice of walking. In 2002, she arrived in Shanghai where she lived in a hotel for up to a year’s time. In that period, Johnson would walk the same route every Thursday, following a bus route 66. She would use different methods each time to understand her route, and ultimately set her path to a walk of 6666 steps, to be completed in 60 minutes. The neighborhood streets “were a friendly social place back then,” Johnson recalls. Walking is a way to align her rhythm with a foreign place; she would first walk by intuition and determine a few anchor points along the way. After some time, Johnson began inviting people she had met along the way to walk with her, one at a time, to converse and exchange observations along the way.

This working method gradually culminated into her ongoing project “Walk With Me,” which has happened in 7 cities so far. In the past 15 years, Johnson has walked with more than 70 people of diverse background, and have collected about 1000 observational notes during her journeys.

佩雀・喬恩森來自德國，以行走為藝術實踐方式。2002年，因各種生活情況，她到了上海，在一個酒店裡住上了一年，而在那一段時間，她每週四會行走同一條道路，沿著66號公車的路線，鎖定幾個地標作為錨點，開始實驗不同方式瞭解路徑。她將每次行程設定為60分鐘，行6666步，開始熟悉這道隨性選擇的旅程。接著她開始邀請路上認識的各路人士結伴行走，每次邀請一位，在路上進行交流和觀察。

這個工作模式漸漸形成了「與我同行」計畫，接連在7個不同城市發生，這15年來，佩雀和70多人結伴走路，旅途中收集了1000多個觀察紀錄。因這個計畫和她個人的生活緊緊相連，她在每個實踐的城市，尋求和當地形成一定程度的聯繫，工作生活，將自己在地紮根，才開始她的行走旅程。

Observation notes made along the journey

1. Observe an everyday activity: Who is doing what?
2. Identify a moment of tension.
3. Observe an act of kindness.
4. Where do you feel out of place?
5. Take note of something not quite right.
6. Note a gathering of people: what are they doing?
7. Spot a desire as it is emerges.
8. Describe a person you see waiting.
9. How can you tell it is Sunday (Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs, Fri, Sat) today?
10. Sensing distance: Where is the next island?
11. What responds to your emerging need for rest?
12. Which one of the people you will be passing, do you identify with?
13. Between the known and the felt is a slippage. Can you identify one?
14. Spot a moment of disquiet/irritation.
15. Probe for a moment of anxiety.

15個旅途上的提問：

1. 觀察一個日常活動。誰在做什麼？
2. 指出一個緊張的時刻。
3. 觀察一個善行。
4. 你在哪裡感到不得其所？
5. 在哪裡感覺不太對勁？
6. 觀察一群人：他們在做什麼？
7. 形容一個剛湧現的欲望。
8. 形容一個在等待的人。
9. 環境中如何辨別今天是週日（週一、二、三、四、五、六）？
10. 感受距離：下一個島嶼在哪裡？
11. 什麼回應著你想要休息的身體？
12. 哪位即將擦身而過的路人，你有感受到某種認同？
13. 知識和感受之間有個滑動的空間。你可以指出這麼一個情況嗎？
14. 指出一個憂慮或煩擾的時刻。
15. 探測一個焦慮的時刻。

Drawing from theatre studies, the artist Petra Johnson adapted an online tool designed by fellow artist Martine Neddam, in order to sketch the genesis and methodology of a participatory walking art practice. ’walk with me’ took place between 2012 and 2014 in Beijing, Cologne, Shanghai (2012 Biennale), Xiamen (The Zhongshan Park Project at Power Station of Art, Shanghai, 2013), Taidong, Berlin (Art Berlin 2013) and Oxford. In each city, approximately 10 to 12 ’one to one’ walks along a pre-determined route were shared with different companions. Spoken reflections of the walks punctuate the routes walked in the above-named cities and interact with moving images of anchor points along each route.

從戲劇領域出發，佩雀喬恩森(Petra Johnson)採用藝術家馬丁能丹Martine Neddam設計的線上工具，描繪行走作為一個藝術實踐的起源和方法。「與我同行」項目在2012至2014年在北京，科隆，上海（2012上海雙年展），廈門（於上海當代藝術館展出的2013中山公園計畫），台東，柏林（2013藝術柏林），和牛津。在每個城市進行大約1-到12分鐘的一對一的平行行走，沿著設定的路線，和途中經歷的移動影像進行互動，在過程中言語介入身體的運動。

☯ Petra Johnson
Petra Johnson (PhD) is an independent artist with a background in crafts (wood). She has worked as artist mentor for UK-based artists visiting China and lectured at the College of Fine Arts at Shanghai University. Since 2006 she has been working on collaborative projects across disciplines and cultures which have been shown at the stage of the German Pavilion at the EXPO 2010 and at the Shanghai Biennale 2012. She is published in Artist links 2002-2006 (S. Kirby [Ed.] Arts Council/British Council, London, 2006; made in sishane (A. Kiyak Yingin [Ed.] Salt, Istanbul, 2011; Animation of Public Space through the Arts: Toward More Sustainable Communities (N. Duxbury [Ed.] Almedina, Coimbra, 2013) and Urban China, Issue 68; (Huang Zhengli [Ed.] Shanghai;
Dec 14).

https://independent.academia.edu/PetraJohnson

Petra Johnson博士是一個有著工藝背景的獨立藝術家。她曾在上海大學美術學院任教，並擔任訪中的英國藝術家顧問。2006起，佩雀開始跨領域和文化的合作計畫，此項目陸續呈現於世界博覽會2010德國館和上海雙年展2012。她的寫作曾發表於英國文化協會出版的藝術家聯結 2002-2006 ，思沙恩製造，藝術驅動公共空間：朝向持續發展的社群，和城市中國第68號刊。