Philippe Petit
Philippe Petit
Philippe Petitis a French high-wire artist who gained fame for his high-wire walk between the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, on the morning of August 7, 1974. For his unauthorized feat1,350 feetabove the ground, he rigged a 450-poundcable and used a custom-made 26-footlong, 55-poundbalancing pole. He performed for 45 minutes, making eight passes along the wire. The following week, he celebrated his 25th birthday. All charges were dismissed in exchange for him doing a...
NationalityFrench
ProfessionPerformance Artist
Date of Birth13 August 1949
CityNemours, France
CountryFrance
I am a thief of knowledge, and in a survival way, I had to solve all the problems around me.
It would be very, very dangerous for a wire walker to experience fear while he is balancing on the wire. Fear has its place on earth, before and maybe after a high-wire walk, but not during for me.
You see, it's actually very good that a human activity is performed very close to death, because that's where life is. Life is, at its most valuable and most full, very close to the boundary of life.
I was never part of the sailing circle, but I enjoy when I'm invited to sail.
Wire-walking in performance is one thing - I never fell, of course. If I had, I wouldn't be here talking about it.
Usually, when I walk on a wire, I inspect the anchor point on both sides before crossing.
I needed more knowledge in rigging and knotting. I started collecting books on knots and really learning more and more. That's how it started. And also in magic, of course. With a piece of rope, you can do magic.
It's very easy to walk on a wire if you spend a whole lifetime practicing for it.
For me, since I have a life wish, not a death wish, for me, I was not gambling my life. I was doing something much more beautiful. I was carrying my life across.
When I was learning by myself, despite my parents, despite my teachers, despite society, when I was fighting for building my life as a young wire walker at age 16, I didn't have feelings, I had certainties.
It's impossible, that's for sure. So let's start working.
Whenever other worlds invite us, whenever we are balancing on the boundaries of our limited human condition, that’s where life starts, that’s where you start feeling yourself living.
Limits exist only in the souls of those who do not dream.
Why does almost every ad agency in the world set the time on a watch at 10:10 before photographing it?