Walking in the City: The Motif of Exile in
Performances by Krzysztof Wodiczko and Adrian Piper
A Thesis in the Special Individualized Program
April, 2004, Concordia University, Montréal
Abstract
This thesis investigates two art performances involving walking in the city that are conceptualized as exilic works of art: Krzysztof Wodiczko•s Vehicle performed in 1973 in Warsaw; and Adrian Piper•s Catalysis performed from 1970 to 1971 in New York. My contention is that Wodiczko•s and Piper•s walks in the city can be examined by applying a threefold understanding of exile. First, these important performative artworks made manifest in the form of artistic walks are marginalized within, or exiled from, an institutionalized mainstream art. Second, the artists themselves communicate either personal or metaphorical states of exile. Third, the phenomena of contemporary metropolises, as diverse as the communist Warsaw and the capitalist New York of the 1970’s are analyzed as alienating and exilic social dwellings par excellence in which most of the inhabitants do not feel “at home”.