Delirium ambulatorium: city walks as conceptual mapping: from Hélio Oiticica to Rasheed Araeen and Lee Wen.

Bentcheva, Eva; Martinez Sanchez, Maria

Abstract

This chapter revisits the notion of Delirium ambulatorium conceived by Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica in 1978. It describes Oiticica's interest in the simple act of wandering or walking through different areas of a city, particularly the favelas of Rio de Janeiro. Here, Delirium ambulatorium consisted of the act of identifying the elements that compose the city and the subsequent generation of creative situations around these elements. Looking beyond Delirium ambulatorium in Oiticica's own practice, this chapter considers its relevance as a methodology for artists working transnationally with conceptual art as mapping. It draws connections to approaches by diasporic artists – particularly from South and Southeast Asia – who carried out artistic walks (accompanied by material and documentary interventions) during the 1960s and 1990s amidst heightened moments of racial and postcolonial discourses. These include UK-based Rasheed Araeen (b. 1938, Karachi, Pakistan) who undertook photo-documented journeys through London's transport infrastructure (Christmas Day, 1979) and sites of workers' strikes and anti-racism protests (Paki Bastard (Portrait of the Artist as a Black Person), 1977–8), as well as Lee Wen's (1957–2019, Singapore) performance-series Journey of a Yellow Man (1992–2012), in which he video-documented himself walking through cities with his body painted yellow. In light of such works, this paper explores Delirium ambulatorium as representative of a shared philosophy and methodology of transnational 'conceptual mapping' between the 1960s and the 1990s.

Citation

BENTCHEVA, E. and MARTINEZ SANCHEZ, M.J. 2023. Delirium ambulatorium: city walks as conceptual mapping: from Hélio Oiticica to Rasheed Araeen and Lee Wen. In Mazadiego, E. (ed.) Charting space: the cartographies of conceptual art. Manchester: Manchester University Press [online], chapter 12, pages 242-263. Available from: https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526159960.00022

• Online Publication Date: Oct 10, 2023
• Publication Date: Dec 31, 2023
• Deposit Date: Aug 28, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Apr 11, 2025
• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Pages: 242-263
• Book Title: Charting space: the cartographies of conceptual art
• Chapter Number: Chapter 12
• ISBN: 9781526159946 ; 9781526159960
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526159960.00022
• Keywords: Brazilian artists; Methodology; Conceptual art
• Public URL: https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/2053801