The Walking Wall
16923
wp-singular,post-template-default,single,single-post,postid-16923,single-format-standard,wp-theme-bridge,bridge-core-3.0.8,qi-blocks-1.4.9,qodef-gutenberg--no-touch,qodef-qi--no-touch,qi-addons-for-elementor-1.9.6,qode-page-transition-enabled,ajax_fade,page_not_loaded,,qode-theme-ver-29.5,qode-theme-bridge,qode_header_in_grid,wpb-js-composer js-comp-ver-6.10.0,vc_responsive,elementor-default,elementor-kit-1582
 

The Walking Wall

09 Nov The Walking Wall

Posted at 04:45h in Uncategorized by

British sculptor Andy Goldsworthy is known for his unconventional approach to art. In a nine-month project he completed in 2019 at Kansas City’s Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Goldsworthy created a moving art display that he termed a “walking wall.” 

Under Goldsworthy’s direction, the museum’s campus workers would build a small section of wall without using hammers, machinery, or binding mortar. The next day, the workers would start again by taking apart stones from one end of the wall, piling them into small wheelbarrows, and carrying them a short distance. Those same stones were then added to the wall’s other end. 

Eventually, piece by piece, the wall “walked” a sinuous third of a mile across the landscape and eventually into the museum itself. 

Goldsworthy told reporters the now-permanent piece of wall was meant to show the way we reconstruct ideas through the movement of stone. As I thought of sections of wall being taken down and reassembled over and over again in a forward moving way, it reminded me of the way we use effective listening skills to keep people’s ideas in action.

So often, communication goes awry because speakers don’t say exactly what they mean. Other times, listeners don’t hear the words clearly or don’t know what to listen for. It’s common for listeners to struggle with reconstructing the speaker’s meaning to get an understanding close to what the speaker is actually experiencing.  

The wall that went for a walk is analogous to what happens when a person speaks and is understood by a listener.  A speaker has a thought to convey. To transmit this thought, the speaker takes it apart by putting it into words. The words, sent through the air to the listener, are then mentally reassembled by the listener who takes a guess by expanding upon what the speaker said and checking to see if that understanding is right.

In this way, the conversation moves steadily and sturdily forward. Words are constructed and reconstructed piece by piece as the speaker and listener walk together, winding their way forward in shared understanding.