I am inspired by an idea that Gilles Deleuze quotes in his text "The Fold“, according to which Leibniz explains that particles are not separate from each other. On the contrary, matter folds itself into ever smaller folds until it finally dissolves into curved movements. "One cannot therefore compare the division of the continuum with grains of sand, but with paper or cloth laid in folds, so that there could be an infinite number of folds, each smaller than the other, without the body ever resolving them into points or minima."
A very large sheet of paper is folded up into a ball in a rucksack, along with a brush and ink. Once removed from the rucksack and unfolded, the paper becomes a landscape through which the draughtsman wanders and draws. Drawing on a very large sheet of paper is the continuation of the journey.
I asked myself how walking and drawing can be connected. How can drawing become a physical process in which a stroke is only created with a step? Where does this lead?
Walking, strolling and moving in space are linked to orientation. It seems as if navigation apps are replacing this primal human ability. Who still knows what it's like to get around without a sat nav? It's necessary to read or memorise your surroundings; to observe and be present with all your senses. What would it be like to walk without a navigation app, but to draw while doing so? What can be seen and how does it change perception and orientation?
Drawing the environment is like looking between the folds of matter with an electron microscope. In Big Paper I outlined why working with very large sheets of paper is also interesting in an educational context. In Lenz you can see how these drawings became part of a play, and St.Pauli shows how countless details of the drawings function as a semi-permeable membrane.
