Zen for Walking, Exposition of Music ― Electronic Television, Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal

Zen for Walking, Exposition of Music ― Electronic Television, Galerie Parnass, Wuppertal

Zen for Walking is a performance of slowly dragging various objects such as spoons or violins while walking down the street; the performance is occasionally titled alternately according to the dragged item. An objet d’art of the same name exists, which was used in one of the performances —pair of old sandals with a bell and carved Egyptian stone head entwined with chains that rattle with each step. Paik has never clarified the meaning of the objects attached to the sandals, yet the weighty stone head is suggestive of the arduousness of the creative process. Most important is the sound these objects make when dragged on the floor, which can be read as an homage to John Cage’s art that extended the idea of music to include noise and silence.