Worth The Journey - Lewisham Arthouse
“I walk slowly, like one who comes from so far away he doesn’t expect to arrive.” To some, the final line of fantasy writer Jorge Luis Borges’ poem Boast of Quietness might seem absurd. What does it mean to walk without expecting to arrive? To others, though, the idea of walking comes with no expectation of arrival. These are the two types of pedestrian: those who look ahead, and those who look around.
The journeys that don’t promise to arrive anywhere - the meandering, purposeless journeys - are often the most fruitful. Pedestrians with purpose reach their destinations as expected. Those who meander, whether on foot, online or through their own minds, allow themselves to discover the things that they weren’t looking for.
This exhibition, organised by Phin Jennings and Kneed, explores these serendipitous discoveries and the paths that led to them; the things that were found without being looked for and the aimless journeys that ended up arriving somewhere, or not arriving anywhere.
This was accompanied by a series of events including an artists’ sharing day, where all the participating artists chatted about books and objects that spoke to their practice. Two events were held on the following day: New Cross Walk guided by Malcolm Bacchus, chair of the Telegraph Hill Society in New Cross Gate and amateur local historian; and Counter Archiving the City, a workshop led by Ross McKendrick, where he introduced ideas around spatial urban practice, incorporating ideas such as derive and sensory ethnongraphy.