Have You Ever Heard About the Green line Walk?
When something poetical becomes political
We all know about borders, they are everywhere. I have been doing research about borders and their meaning and impact on the territory and society many years from now. I realized that every border has a history and sometimes they are forgotten when there is no physical trace anymore.
Francis Alÿs, a Belgian artist walked and made an artistic act in one of them: The so-called Green Line of Israel.
The Green Line
I came across the Green Line of Israel during research about borders, and of course for the quite known separation wall close to this green line. However, I discovered that the term Green Line has been used frequently — and for years — to refer to the different demarcation lines and buffer zones around the world. For the more curious ones: There is also a Green Line in France, Lebanon, Cyprus, and Italy.
All these lines separated at a time, two hostiles countries, or communities in moments of war and conflict.
In Israel, the Green Line was set out after the Arab-Israeli war in 1949 — in an armistice agreement — to separate Israel from its neighbors. However, it was intended to be more a demarcation line than a border. Today, it separates Israel from the West bank. Even, if Israel claims that the Green Line has no legal value nowadays, it continues to have political and administrative significance — for example for a person’s refugee status.
The performance
In 2004 Francis Alÿs, put on a performance called the walk of the green line. He has done different artworks around the world with a resemblance to this one. You can see it here. The work of Francis Alÿs has been characterized by exploring urban matters linked to social problems and spatial justice.
In this case, the artistic act was based on using a leaking can of green paint — pierced in the bottom. Alÿs walked with this leaking can following the outline of the so-called green line. Each step from Alÿs marked physically this imaginary line that at one point represented a border in divided Jerusalem.
58 liters of green paint were used to trace 24 km — Francis Alÿs
Throughout the 24 kilometers traveled, the line was marked passing through various streets, parks, and abandoned lands. During the documentation of the journey, we can realize that it was a silent and stealthy act. Even if it did not cause a stir wherever it passed, he marked every step firmly.
Sometimes one action is worth a thousand words …
What we can learn about the performance
- Bring attention. We often forget and even normalize big events shaping nowadays societies. We can see now how people live their life every day by the side of conflict zones and militarized borders. It is important to bring attention to educate those generations that haven’t live it.
- Open the debate. It is important to maintain our critical minds actives about political and social issues and not to be afraid to open the debate to bring knowledge. The intervention of Alÿs in Israel, as from so other many places, is not about doing an intervention and leave, but to start a discussion about it.
- Art as a way of political expression. Art has always been about making a statement, also, a way to express social and political injustice, building community, and — as I read in an article about the Five Ways of Seeing the Relationship Between Art and Politics — it can gesture towards new political ideas, solutions, and priorities.
Sometimes doing something poetic can become political and sometimes doing something political can become poetic — Francis Alÿs
