Soundwalking in the West Village

Walking Through Sound

Guided soundwalks through the West Village

Wednesday, October 15, 6-7pm
Judson Church
55 Washington Square South

The soundwalks were announced as follows:

The walks are free, but please reserve a place by sending an email to eartotheearth@emf.org and giving us your name, email address, and telephone number. Participants will meet at 5:45pm on the front steps of Judson Church. The walks should take about 45 minutes.

< Back to the festival index

ABOUT THE ARTISTS


Andrea Williams
Andrea Williams, sound artist, acoustic ecologist, has presented her perceptually immersive work at the Whitney Museum, Wave Farm, The National Arts Club, and in the Brazilian rainforest. A founding member of the New York Society for Acoustic Ecology, she co-curates the NYSAE's Giant Ear))) radio show on free103point9 and leads soundwalks in various locations in NYC and beyond.


Victoria Estok Before deciding to go back to school, Victoria Estok worked as an environmental educator and advocate in both urban and backcountry settings. It was during this time she became aware of a deep seated need to uncover the intentions behind everyday actions. She is interested in expressing emotional undercurrents and ideas through sculpture, sound, and electronics.

Edmund Mooney
Edmund Mooney is a composer, sound designer and sound artist. His work has been presented at Lincoln Center, The Metropolitan Museum, DTW and PS 122, among others. Recent works include “Body Maps” with Vision into Art at the Whitney Museum and “Eros Thanatos” with installation artist Erika Harrsch at the Seoul International Media Art Biennale.



Kevin T. Allen Kevin T. Allen is an award-winning filmmaker and sound artist living in Brooklyn. He has created sound installation work for the Canadian Centre for Architecture Third Coast International Audio Festival and is an independent radio producer for APM's Weekend America. His work has led him to explore the soundscapes of Sri Lanka, India, Vietnam, Peru, Bolivia, Argentina and a piano bar in Greenwich Village.

ABOUT THESE SOUNDWALKS

Organized by EMF and the New York Society for Acoustic Ecology (NYSAE), Walking Through Sound was a series of guided listening tours through the West Village neighborhood of New York City. The soundwalks, conducted by NYSAE members Andrea Williams and Edmund Mooney, with Kevin Allen and Victoria Estok, led participants to experience places by listening.

Andrea Williams writes:

"A soundwalk is a walk that focuses on listening closely to the sounds of a particular environment. It's a way to experience a new place or an already familiar one with an entirely new perspective. I encourage people to listen to an area somewhat similarly to how one would study a landscape painting, searching for the figure and ground of the piece. Sounds that are heard most frequently but perhaps more unconsciously like air conditioner drones in the summer would represent the ground, or the keynote, the anchor of the composition. Then there are the sound signals, the figures that come and go in the foreground, the 360 degree foreground. Soundmarks are like landmarks and they are the unique sonic characteristics of a particular neighborhood that if taken away, psychologically it would greatly impact the daily life of the community.

"Soundwalking can also be thought of as creating a composition where the score is developed by the guide's mapping of the walk, the timeframe given, and the group's participation with the sonic environment in the chosen area. Each walk becomes a collaborative composition, with the roles of audience, composer, and performer becoming interchangeable throughout the walk. And often there is a sense of amazement about being able to hear the fine details in life that are quite pleasurable just by walking around with a focus on listening."