shut up and listen! 2024
Permanent presentations @echoraum, October 10–12, 2024
Christoph Rehage: THE LONGEST WAY 1.0 – 350 days of hiking through China
Timelapse Video
Opening: October 10, 2024, 7:00 p.m.
THE LONGEST WAY 1.0 – 350 days of hiking through China
When German student Christoph Rehage woke up on his 26th birthday in Beijing, he put on his backpack and started walking. His goal: back to his hometown in Germany, and all of it on foot. The journey led him over summits and across deserts, past yaks, donkeys, and camels. He made good friends and eventually found a teacher along the way. But after one year, after three pairs of shoes and 4646 kilometers, he came to a point where he had to make a decision. His video “The Longest Way 1.0” has reached a worldwide viewing audience of over 15 million. Piper/Malik and National Geographic have published travelogues and coffee table books about the journey. As of the summer of 2016, Christoph is on the road again, continuing his walk home from China. He has made it to Central Asia, and it seems as though he still has a long way to go.
The Video:
This is a time-lapse, made up of roughly 1.400 photographs, depicting a one-year walk from Beijing to Ürümqi in 2007/2008. Unlimited growth of hair and beard add liveliness to the resulting video. The complete distance has been covered on foot. Just plain good old walking. There are scenes on airplanes, trains and boats, which were taken during breaks. This is not a strict “1 picture a day” video, since there are many instances where several shots have been taken on the same occasion. The intention was to show movement in the background, include other people in the frame, and make the video more interesting that way. The reference to Teacher Xie in the end is a dedication to a great master of walking.
Christoph Rehage
Christoph Rehage was born in Hanover in 1981. He considers himself to be half Hungarian, although he has to admit that he doesn’t speak the language. He has lived in Wichita and Paris, among other places. His one-year stay in Paris ended in a spontaneous walk home before he enrolled to study Sinology in Munich. After that, he lived and studied in Beijing for two years until he decided it was time to walk home from there too. He did not make it. But his one-year walk from Beijing to Ürümqi in northwest China resulted in a strange beard, lots of blisters on his feet and a small sensation on the internet called “The Longest Way”. He has since received his master’s degree in sinology, worked as a columnist for Chinese newspapers and published two books about the Longest Way: a travelogue with Piper/Malik (“The Longest Way”) and an illustrated book with National Geographic (“China on Foot”). He recently published a new book, the story of a journey through Europe with a Chinese group (“Neuschweinstein”, Piper/Malik).