Two Dimensional Lines Becoming Three Dimensional Realities

Ana Cristina Quintero Ruiz QUI17514249

To what extend do lines determine and have power over the relationship humans have with
territory?

One of the curious qualities about a line is that it has no three dimensional value. And the
problem is even more complicated than that –Kovats, T

Lines might seem as something that only exists on paper; they are a collection of dots creating
a figure, normally associated with an artistic expression. But in reality, they also belong in a
realm outside of the paper where they determine the attitude humans have with territory. Tim
Ingold (2007) said, “we have anthropological studies of visual arts, of music and dance, of
speech and writing, (…) but not of the production and significance of lines”. Therefore, it is
worth exploring lines and how they seemingly become three dimensional objects, defying their
common definition, and have indisputable power when it comes to human movement and
retention. This essay will further explore how lines determine and have power over the
relationship humans have with territory by looking at visual art pieces and global scenarios.

Firstly, lines have power to separate. Visually, this has been explored by Francis Alÿs in his
performance Green Line where by “using green paint, [he] walked along the armistice border,
known as ‘the green line’, pencilled on a map by Moshe Dayan at the end of the war between
Israel and Jordan in 1948” (Tate, date not given). By doing so, he is visually representing an
arbitrary boarder that separates countries, not necessarily for cultural reasons, but for political
ones as is demarks the territory Israel gained in the war. Thus, exploring the power lines have
regardless of then being visible or not. Similarly, the power of separation lines have is explored
in Gordon Matta-Clark’s performance Splitting, where he cuts a building in two by creating a
hole with the shape of a line in the middle of it. If one takes into account that “Matta-Clark
understood architecture as a reflection of the dominant social structures” (Museo Nacional
Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, 2019), cutting a building in half can consequently express how such
dominant social structures are ruptured and separated, representing inequality. Through this
act, he visually explores human separation, just like Alÿs does by dripping green paint.

Alÿs (2004) The Green Line Matta-Clark (1974) Splitting

According to the German Philosopher, Walter Benjamin, “The graphic line is defined by its
contrast with area… The graphic line marks out the area and so defines it by attaching itself to
the background, conversely, the graphic line can exist only against this background” (van
Alphen, 2008). But what happens when the line is invisible because it was never meant to be
drawn in the territory. As explored by Tim Marshall (2015), “the Europeans then took maps (…)
and drew lines on them. (…) These lines were more about how far which power’s explorer,
military forces and businessmen had advanced on the map that what the people living between
them felt themselves to be, or how they wanted to organise themselves”. Such lines, and
mistakes, were drawn on paper, not on the territory, and have led to numerous issues, one of
the deadliest being the Democratic Republic of Congo. By trying to join 200 ethnic groups and
242 languages in one nation they have created tribal, religious and social separation, resulting
in a civil war. The arbitrary lines that delimit the country are a “prime example of how the
imposition of artificial borders can lead to a weak and divide state, ravaged by internal conflict”
(Marshall, 2015). After all, “living along is one thing; joining up is quite another” (Ingold, 2007).

Moreover, there are lines that unite. According to John

Long (1967) A Line Made by Walking
impermanence, motion and relativity” (Tate, 2007). Therefore, this line unifies the human
with the territory and with his artistic language.
Berger (2005) “isn’t there a third kind of space? One
which belongs to the movement between the one who
is drawing and what is being drawn” implying the
relationship between humans, movement and
drawing. In the art realm, this can be seen in Richard
Long’s performance, A Line Made by Walking, where
“on one of Long’s journeys to St Martin’s from his
home in Bristol. Between hitchhiking lifts, he stopped
in a field in Wiltshire where he walked backwards and
forwards until the flattened turf caught the sunlight
and became visible as a line. He photographed this
work, and recorded his physical interventions within
the landscape” (Tate, 2017). In this performance, the
grass will eventually grow back, thus the line
becomes ethereal. None the less, it unites an artist
with a territory through the means of repetition, as it
is an area he frequents. Additionally, it unifies the
performer and his artistic expression, very early in his
career, as it demonstrates “how Long had already
found a visual language for his life long concern with

The power lines have to unite is seen in global scenarios like the tube lines, which, visually,
are a piece of graphic design. For example, the London Tube map, initially designed by Harry
Becks, focused on uniting the city through appropriate graphic design; “while it was no longer
possible to tell the distance or precise geographic location of stations at a glance, Beck reasoned
that this was unimportant. What passengers needed to know was how to get from one station
to another as efficiently as possible and where to change between lines” (Glancery, 2015). By
acknowledging that a coherent map was one where connections were key for its understanding,
Becks eases mobility, resulting in the unification of London with Greater London. The power such
 lines have, in a map and in a railway system, is evidenced from its creation to its current
existence; according to TFL (2019), the tube transports 1.35 billion passengers each year in a
402km long railway and 100.3 million passengers pass through the busiest station, Waterloo. As
Berger (2005) said, “drawing is about becoming, precisely because we can´t just be, be a child,
be crazy, be an animal, be a mountain. But we can become a mountain”, so if one draws the
city by travelling through the tube, one becomes the city, showing how the unity of a city and
its citizens has a direct relationship with its mobility services. Needless to say, this analysis is not
exclusive to railway systems, it can also occur in rivers, airlines, highways, etc. Accordingly, it is
evident how mobility has a connection with lines, humans and territory.

Conversely, there are lines that do not hold power. Artistically, this can be explored in Francis
Alÿs’ performance Sometimes Making Something Leads to Nothing, where he drags an ice cube
for nine hours through the streets of Mexico City until it melts. Such ice cube leaves a
momentary mark in the pavement but in reality does nothing to affect the daily lives of the
citizens. Never the less, it does have a concept behind, as it “speaks to the frustrated efforts of
everyday Mexico City residents to improve their living conditions” (Tate, date not given)
through the means of time, absurdity, uselessness and frustration. Consequently, it can be said
the line itself holds no power, in contrast with Matta-Clark’s Splitting where the house is
physically unstable due to the line, but the concept behind it does. Through this performance
Alÿs diminished the power lines have when changing the behaviour of humans in a territory
and, exactly due to this, gives power to the concept behind the act.

Alÿs (1994) Sometimes Doing Something Leads to Nothing

In a global context this apparent powerlessness can be analysed in the Nazca Lines, Peru. These
geoglyphs are “over 800 strait lines, 300 geometric figures and 70 animal and plat designs”
(Golomb, 2019) located in the
Peruvian desert, where “some of
the strait lines run up to 30 miles”
(Golomb, 2019). These lines were
created by the Nazca culture and,
until today, it remains uncertain
what their true purpose is.
Generally, it is thought they
evidence a relationship between
humans, their territory and
waters as they “weren’t used as
an irrigation system or a guide
to find water, but rather as part
of a ritual to the gods” (History,
2018) to thank them for the Littlehale (date not given) Photograph of a Nazca Line
scarce rainfall. But the truth is
that such assumptions are not an absolute truth and currently these lines have no
purpose. Thus, evidencing how they once, presumably, had power over how humans
interacted with the territory but currently have none, opening a debate regarding the
changing power of lines.

As previously exposed, lines determine and have power over the relationship humans have
with territory. In some cases, such relationship involves third actors, like mobility,
impermanence and repetition. Even in the scenarios where a lines appears to be pointless or
useless, there is a concept, idea or ritual behind that gives power to the mark. Therefore, lines
do not only have to power of rupturing and uniting, but that of changing with time and
perception, evidencing how two dimensional lines become three dimensional realities.

Word Count: 1490

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