Where are you going? Where have you been?
Different paths lead us here, different paths take us away. For two days a site in Chester's historic Rows becomes a place to transcribe and record the everyday journeys we make, and to create an interactive artwork that celebrates travel in all its forms.
This work took place as part of Roam the Rows, a weekend event created by Chester Performs in August 2008. Passers-by were asked to contribute a response to the question - 'Where are you going; Where have you been?' in the form of a map, a drawing, sentence, story or footprint. The resulting small works were strung across a space in the Rows, growing by the hour, fluttering in the breeze (and just surviving the rain!)
This work revisited and revised an earlier project of the same name. Carried out in 2006, the original Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? involved the strategic siting and distribution of postcards bearing maps and texts which represented and reimagined some of the journeys I was making at the time. Those who recieved or found the postcards were presented with an oblique message regarding travel, and invited to re-imagine their own journeys in a similar fashion.
For Roam the Rows these initial ideas took on a greater level of interactivity and aimed to create more direct and immediate responses to everyday travel and movement. This became an event-based, performative work, engaging with passers-by to create a dynamic record of their feelings and responses the question, allowing a level of personal engagement which took diverse forms. Over 200 people contributed a postcard sized drawing or text. These have now been assembled to form an artist's book about the project.
