Artist val smith invites the public into queer walk-nap-walk-nap-yakyak-nap, an event that occurs at dawn, midday, dusk and midnight over two days. queer walk-nap-walk-nap-yakyak-nap is an invitation to experience queer spacetime. We will be led by smith in intervals of meandering, resting, napping and chatting beginning at Te Wai Orea, Western Springs Park and moving westward.

The four walk events move in relation to the nonlinear logics of space, light and pressure present at sunrise, noon, sunset, and midnight. The process creates opportunities to pay attention to the passing of time through a queer lens and participate in social practices that attempt to deactivate straight time and anti-capitalist modes of being together.

val smith is a Pākehā, non-binary, queer artist, educator, community organiser and writer based in Tāmaki Makaurau. Their participatory performances investigate work, gender, sexuality, perception and participation through the forgotten spaces and identity spaces of the city. Past performances have invited participants to contemplate site and identity through somatic and improvisational processes. val smith is a 2019 Arts Foundation Laureate.

Queer walk-nap-walk-nap-yakyak-nap is part of Walking about, a series of performative and participatory walks that travel across Auckland with Te Hau ā Uru – the West Wind. The walks are artworks – guided experiences leading audiences and participants across Auckland. Its walks-as-artworks follow stories, pathways of the imagination and the senses, awa (rivers) and maunga (volcanic hills), uncovering the hidden trajectories of our urban and bush terrain.

Please bring a blanket.

Walking about is presented by Te Uru Waitakere Contemporary Gallery in partnership with curators Christina Houghton and Melissa Laing.