Lines of flight: everyday resistance along England’s backbone

Abstract

A line of flight is essentially a movement of creativity, a practical act or a way of living that wards off or inhibits the formation of ‘centres’ and stable powers in favour of continuous variation and free action. This article supports the arts-based practice of a documentary film, Lines of Flight, which uses free solo rock climbing in the Pennine region of northern England, to give access to a range of ‘intensely lived experiences’ that can offer a route out of the social, economic and cultural conditions that often subjugate modern society and back to life in its free and wild state. The documentary becomes a presentational line of flight in itself, as it looks to find the conditions for a novel experience in the making, under which a new filmic affect is produced in the here and the now.