stanley brouwn began working with distance and direction in the early 1960s. During this period he made work by asking random pedestrians to describe a route to another point in town. The resulting sketch or unmarked piece of paper if the description were entirely verbal, would then be stamped This way brouwn. In the early 70s, brouwn began to make books. In one of his first publications, 100 this-way-brouwn problems for computer IBM 360 model 95, brouwn lists this way brouwn questions to be posed to a computer beginning with: "show brouwn the way in all cities, villages, etc. on earth from point x to all other points in that cities, villages etc." Too complex for even a computer to solve, this list of questions is designed to reveal the infinitely complex possibilities implicit in the idea of a this way brouwn. In his book Steps, published by the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam in 1971, brouwn first makes use of what would become a full-time focus for his work, his own footsteps: "from march 18 until April 19, 1971, I defined my total number of footsteps each day by means of a handcounter. During this period I visited a number of countries where I had never been before. Consequently, my footsteps there were my first in those countries." By 1976, brouwn has created his own unit of measure, the brouwnstep which he makes use of in such publications as his 1976, 1m 1 step which consists of two printed lines, one measuring 1 meter, the other 1 brouwn step. In recent publications brouwn has expanded upon his interest in the use of the body as a means of measurement, often making the basis of the work antiquated or ancient forms of body measurements such as the ell, the foot and the Egyptian royal cubit.

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