‘Mr President, Open the Door Please, I Want to Be Free’: Participatory Walking as Aesthetic Strategy for Transforming a Hostage Space

The purpose of this chapter is to gain a better understanding of the transformative power of walking as aesthetic, participatory and political performance practice in the context of hostage taking and through the lens of notions of space, landscape, representation and participation performance. It uses a walking action that was led in 2007 by the father of Colombian soldier Pablo E. Moncayo who had been held hostage by rebel group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia for over a decade. I argue that by successfully engaging the public with the issue of hostage taking, the walk does produce a framework that guides the future behaviors of the antagonists (the captors and the government). The chapter contributes to broader debates on the connections between political power, space, civic engagement and performance.