National
post / Canada
"
by Lia Grainger 18 dec 2009
Every afternoon for the past two weeks, a group of about 50 joggers embark on a 30 minute run through the crowded, cobbled streets of Copenhagen. Some wear sweatpants and headbands, but many are dressed in jeans and street clothes, As they run, they converse with one another — not about work, diet, or the spouse and kids, but rather, about the nature of hypocrisy, apathy and censorship. Should the sweaty, sprinting debaters stray from the chosen topic, an energetic man with a wiry shock of dark hair shouts in a thick French accent: "Stop! We are not here to have fun." Refocusing the buzzing crowd, he jogs ahead. "We have to debate! We have a subject, it is very important. We have to run."
The man at the helm of this mobile intellectual exchange is Thierry Geoffroy, a Danish-French artist who has been leading what he calls "critical runs" for the past three years in cities around the world.
"We don't want people to die anymore on their sofas with drool on their faces," says Geoffroy of the impetus behind the physical format his performances take. "My enemy is apathy. To fight against apathy, we have to run. We have to wake up."
The format of the critical run is simple. Geoffroy, who also goes by the moniker "Colonel," publicizes the time, location, and topic of upcoming critical runs on Facebook to some five thousand followers, who then spread the word. The participants gather at the designated time and run for 30 minutes along a predetermined route while seriously debating the chosen topic of the day. Geoffroy and other participants film the entire process with handheld video cameras and the footage is later uploaded to Facebook, blogs and websites.
"I call it the awareness muscle," says Geoffroy of the physical impulse to critique and question the order of the world. "It is a critical muscle.If you are critical everyday and work that muscle every day, you start to have a big muscle, and the critical run is a part of that." With these runs, Geoffroy is attempting to illustrate an intrinsic connection between physical effort and social activism: the meshing of these two forms of expression becomes his art.
The inaugural critical run took place in New York City in 2007, and there have since been runs in London, Istanbul, Athens, Paris, Siberia, Moscow and Hanoi.Geoffroy began developing the idea 20 years ago, when he and his artist friends would debate preselected topics while playing soccer or play-fighting. The run gradually evolved from other performance-based art projects that Geoffroy was performing around the world.
Much of Geoffroy's work involves physical action by a group of participants. He asserts that being physically stimulated and in motion creates the sense of urgency needed to confront the planet's many acute problems crises. "There are a lot of catastrophes, a lot of things going on in the world, but everybody is moving in slow motion," says Geoffroy. "But during the run they are sweating and it takes the debate to another level. People don't try to show they're smart, they are very natural."
Geoffroy says the debate topic is determined by both the location of the run and the participants he is expecting. For example, at a run in Hanoi, Vietnam, the joggers tackled the issue of censorship.At a run inside a museum in Sweden that was attended by several art critics, the topic was "Are Critics Critical?"
"It ended up that people thought the critics were not critical at all," says Geoffroy laughing. "They decided their own profession does not do its job."
Here in Copenhagen, the discussions have revolved around climate change issues and how individuals can have a meaningful impact on the fate of the planet.
"Which privilege are we willing to give up?" Geoffroy asks the small crowd of runners that has gathered for the daily run. "Because it seems that we are willing to give up nothing." Each participant takes a permanent marker and a white headband and writes down what they can live without. Across one woman's forehead is the word "cell phone."
Later, Geoffroy explains that he fully expects the woman to give up her mobile phone. The purpose is not simply to run, he says, but to create actual change. "The run creates a beautiful moment, but the goal is the impact," says Geoffroy. "We ask people to be serious."
Sometimes, though, when you're sprinting down the street wearing a headband that says "cell phone" and debating the nature of hypocrisy, the urge to giggle can be overwhelming.
"This is a very serious project, but sometimes it ends up being a little funny," admits Geoffroy. Although it frustrates him that some don't take his critical runs seriously, he says the perceived absurdity of the action can actually makes people more receptive to the message: "In this way I can seduce them a little bit," says Geoffroy with a grin. "But I don't try to be funny. The critical run is not a joke."