Eylem Ertürk

We may consider ourselves individual thinkers, but much of our thoughts are formed collectively throughout education, by the media, and with our peers. We know what we know and tend to stick to our knowledge in complex and uncertain times. While modern Western ways of thinking dominate globally, other cultures, in different times and places of the world, developed knowledge also outside a classroom. There are various ways of thinking, knowing and understanding other than modern rational approaches to space, time, human and nature. To what extent can we be open to other ways of knowing that might be more helpful for survival and resilience in a changing world? What kind of tools can different knowledge give us to deal with the challenges we face? How can we learn different ways of thinking related to other ways of knowing? Following these questions, Shared Walks | Ways of Knowing focuses on an embodied approach to thinking by walking together, interacting with our environment and getting in dialogue with others through senses, feelings, patterns and rhythms.

* Shared Walks was initiated in Vienna in 2018 by Eylem Ertürk and Bernd Rohrauer. Following the Climate Change and Futures editions developed by Eylem Ertürk and Aysem Mert in 2021 and 2023, Shared Walks | Ways of Knowing was developed in 2024 by Eylem Ertürk and Renate Schepen (doordacht.net) as the fourth edition of Shared Walks focusing on intercultural philosophy and different ways of knowing.  

Shared Walks is an initiative that opens a playful space for exploring the environment and others by walking. Participants walk together in pairs using a card set with different types of walks, collecting and sharing observations, impressions, thoughts, feelings, memories, stories, associations, etc., understanding and mapping their surroundings from different perspectives. Different walking prompts propose changes in the way we usually walk to pave the way to an appropriation of places, connection with others and triggering self-awareness. Based on this methodology, Shared Walks | Ways of Knowing was developed as a tool to translate different ways of knowing to an embodied experience through walking, create an experimental and shared space to know oneself, each other and the environment better, and experience different ways of being in the world. The knowledge revealed by walking and exchanging can help us to consciously choose our ways of relating to each other and nature in favour of collective well-being and to open ourselves to different ways of knowing.

The Walkshop

The Shared Walks | Ways of Knowing card set consists of 50 walking prompts under two sections, Space & Time and Human & Nature, each including 25 different walks related to 5 thematic areas. It is available (separately) in English and Dutch. The walkshop methodology has an easily accessible approach by walking and talking realised in three parts: introduction (pairing of participants, selecting walking prompts from the card set), walking (unguided in pairs, experiencing, observing and collecting information) and reflection (in a group on the experience and findings from the walks). The walkshop weighs in the participants’ embodied experience as a way of knowing differently; and also explores how the collected materials come together and what they indicate about different perceptions of space, time, human, and nature. 

Photos: Eylem Ertürk, Vienna, April 2024 © Shared Walks