Walking, the body, and the pandemic: the public value of walking art in China

ABSTRACT

In December 2022, the dynamic zero-COVID control policy came to an end, marking the conclusion of a three-year pandemic that affected 1.4 billion Chinese people. The pandemic and related policies created a unique, temporary, and historic social ecosystem where walking became more crucial than ever before. The pandemic not only severely restricted people’s movement in public spaces but also exposed the longstanding contradictions between human bodies, modern mobility, and urban space. Over the three years of the pandemic, walking became an aesthetic survival attempt by Chinese people to cope with their limited freedoms under the pandemic. As the pandemic stagnated and worsened over time, walking-dominant activities gradually became a widespread social phenomenon that encouraged urban residents to participate in rebuilding society across various fields such as politics, art, nature, etc. The development of walking as an artistic form during this period represents a new aesthetic strategy and political awakening while reflecting humans’ need to reconnect with land, social space, and their own bodies. This paper reviews how walking art has evolved historically through three periods – before, during, and after the pandemic – aiming to highlight both the public value of walking art and challenges within China’s social ecosystem.

KEYWORDS:

• Walking art
• body
• pandemic era
• spatial practice
• cross-domain

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No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Huiqing Wang

Huiqing Wang obtained an M.A. from the School of Sculpture and Public Art at the China Academy of Art in 2022. The original theme of this manuscript “Walking, the Body, the Pandemic: The Public Value of Walking Art in China” was conceived when she attended the Oslo National Academy of Art in Norway as part of an academic exchange program in 2021. She previously earned an B.A. from the Department of Interdisciplinary Visual Arts at the University of Washington in 2017. During her study experience in different countries over the past decade, her focus on art has changed according to the environment. This article is mainly based on her personal perception of human conditions while walking in different societies during the pandemic.