Credo: Philippe Petit
High-wire artist, 59
Anna Schori
Philippe Petit: 'My philosophy is not to try to get the audience to react in a particular way, but to throw myself into a performance'
I believe...
Nothing is impossible. You can make an incredible journey one step at a time.
You can not take life on the wire lightly. If you are foolish you will lose your life. I see the wire not as a dead piece of cable, but as something alive that I have to have a dialogue with.
A new life started for me after I walked between the Twin Towers [in 1974]. The phone started to ring and I was invited to do things all over the world and that continues today. But that doesn't mean that I don't still struggle and fight to create the theatre of my imagination.
There is no room for the death of the towers in my story; it is about their life.
Sleeping with a total stranger after completing the walk was a way to celebrate life, an absurd moment of revelry. It's a poetic evocation.
Being a pickpocket is an art form. It is part of my character. After learning magic as a kid I learnt how to juggle, which is another branch of magic. I then discovered there is another art, close to juggling, called pickpocketing. I have just had a book published in France called Art of the Pickpocket.
Accomplishing something meaningful and inspiring people gives you an immense joy and profound satisfaction.
I am a strange kind of wire-walker because I do many things other, but for me they're all almost the same. I'm as happy writing books, juggling in the streets or doing lectures on creativity as I am wire-walking.
My philosophy is not to try to get the audience to react in a particular way, but to throw myself into a performance to the best of my talent and ability.
'Man on Wire', a documentary about Petit's 1974 high-wire walk across the Twin Towers, is in cinemas nationwide.
Offensive or abusive comments will be removed and your IP logged and may be used to prevent further submission. In submitting a comment to the site, you agree to be bound by the Independent Minds Terms of Service.
- Print Article
- Email Article
-
Click here for copyright permissions
Copyright 2009 Independent News and Media Limited



