Henkel Walk

Long duration blind walk

Performed by the artist

Duration: 3.5 hours

2010

Brief |  A guide was asked to take me to an unknown location 5 to 15 minutes from my house in Coburg.

From that point I would leave the car and attempt to walk into the City of Melbourne.

 

Route info |  goo.gl/maps/4DdNY

Statement

I had no idea where I was, though I’d lived in the area for 10 years.

I thought I did twice – both times I imagined completely new parts of Melbourne – a melange of half-remembered and half felt places. In the middle of the walk I became lost in a park. I thought that I was able to use the sun to locate myself, but after the third time I tried to leave the park via the south, only to find myself walking north, I cried.

After a couple of hours I became quite good at finding my way along without hurting myself. I used some twigs as prosthetic hands, to protect my skin as I skimmed along walls. Eventually I did figure out where I was. Over three hours, I had advanced 300 meters toward my goal, which now lay only 6.7 kilometers away…