Gåafstand, or Walking Distance, is a project by Copenhagen-based Pia Rönicke and Holbæk-based Nis Rømer, for people who are interested both in walking and in the city’s infrastructures and urban planning. Their idea is to keep it simple. They map as they go along. By registering what they see in pictures and text, they turn our subjective meeting with the city into the red thread in their story. Copenhagen is continually undergoing change, and they want to capture a little of that process. What happens in a city over time and what shifts can one experience? Are there places that stand still, while everything round about is changing, and how is a new dynamism created in the city? How do the paths through the city create a new and different view of what it is, and how can we contribute to creating the city by moving through it in new ways? First and foremost it must be fun. The experience must either precede or go hand in hand with documentation. They are interested in the process and how it can be meaningful. Everyone who participates contributes with ideas for where they should walk and how. The planning of the walks takes place from event to event.

In conjunction with the exhibition, Gåafstand will do a walk in nearby Nokken. The area is located very close to the city center in a particularly scenic area between Amager commons and the massive housing developments at Islandsbrygge. Nokken has existed since the 1930’s and started out as a small fishing harbor with some self-built houses. Since then the area has developed into an allotment garden, with a wide variety different small houses where many of the inhabitants stay all year round. The Copenhagen municipality owns the land and the garden association has no formalized lease and therefore exists on uncertain grounds. They will meet with Betty Carlsson former chairwoman of the allotment association. She will show the participants her garden, tell about the history of Nokken and maybe give them some insight into why and how the site has survived for so long. Date of walk: Sunday, September 4th, 14:00. Meeting place: In front of Amager Ro- og kajakklub, Islandsbrygge 66a.

In the show, Gåafstand will also present a number of friezes composed of text and image from the past walks.