Sonic you

By Meredith Deliso

It’s no mystery that the city is loud, a noisy, cacophonous landscape.

But on June 7, you can experience Brooklyn like you never have before in one of ISSUE Project Room’s Soundwalk-A-Thon, a take on the “walk-a-thon” and a fundraiser for the Gowanus-based performance space.

Throughout the day, 20 leading sound artists and musicians will become sonic tour guides as they lead groups of 10-20 people on walks that range from meditative deep listening to sing-alongs, complete with instruments and iPods.

“ISSUE’s Soundwalk-a-thon takes the live experience from our venue and brings it outdoors,” says IPR’s Founder and Artistic Director Suzanne Fiol. “While many people in the experimental arts community are familiar with the work we do, the public-at-large is not. This event will bring together artists and audience, physically demonstrating the dynamic impact that experimental art is constantly having on New York City culture.”

Gowanus
As ISSUE is located in Gowanus, at the Old American Can Factory at Third Street and Third Avenue, it’s no surprise that a number of the soundwalks occur in the neighborhood. “Gowanus Field Reflections & The Great Steel Elevator,” led by composer Bradford Reed, moves through the neighborhood, ultimately ending up at the freight elevator of the Old American Can Factory, where the group will experience spontaneous “elevator music” being automatically created by custom software and the sounds of the elevator. Artist Betsey Bigg’s “Detox Project” starts at the courtyard of the factory and loops around the Gowanus Canal, as participants walk, hum and sing together. And Dylan Gauthier’s “Crudophonic Sound Event” places the “maligned urban oasis” of the Gowanus Canal, which potentially awaits a Superfund makeover, at the center of a meditation on open space, the open sea, floating gardens, green industry and utopian redevelopment.

Carroll Gardens
Nearby in Carroll Gardens, the Tin Can Telewalk, led by composer Kurt Gottshalk and vocalist Marie Evelyn, takes inspiration from the childhood game of “Telephone” and has participants echoing what they hear through tin can phones as they move through the neighborhood. Performance and installation artist Todd Shalom will guide walkers on a “Carroll Street Soundwalk,” encouraging different ways of listening.

DUMBO/Downtown Brooklyn
In DUMBO, let visual and sound artist Bruce Tovsky lead you on an underpass walk starting at the York Street F train station. Nearby at Brooklyn Bridge Park, sound artist Daniel Neumann leads “Demasking The Bridges,” exploring the noisy triangle between the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges while wearing masks to uncover more sounds. Walkers will sport iPods, not masks, on the Collective Opera Company’s “Shuffle Sing-a-Long,” and sing along - and out loud - with their music during the walk to create an a capella chorus (albeit one that’s not harmonizing together).

Prospect Park
Though Prospect Park may be a place Brooklynites go to escape the more chaotic, noisy elements of their lives, several soundwalks will make their way through the park. Sound and installation artist Andrea Williams’s walk focuses on to learn about the park’s sound and ecology; the “Prospect Park Ravine Walk,” led by interdisciplinary sound artist and composer Jonny Farrow, will explore those sounds occurring in the middle of Brooklyn – in the park’s ravine; drummer Kenny Wollesen will teach Lithuanian folk songs on his Balloon Bassoon Promenade soundwalk; and composer Edmund Mooney looks to lead a soundwalk through the park to “explore the unique sonic signature of various places in and out of the park.”

Starting Place Unknown
Other walks that might be for the more brave include Steve Dalachinsky’s Poets March, where an undisclosed number of poets will gather in Brooklyn and march toward ISSUE Project Room; Flaming Fire’s “We will run past all your walkers, opposite direction, screaming songs” soundwalk; Michele Nagai’s All Borough Bag Walk, which starts at the location of the participants’ choice, and Jonathan Kane’s “Bang a gong for ISSUE” soundwalk, a percussion improv march to ISSUE.

Beyond Brooklyn
The soundwalk-a-thon extends throughout the city as well, with ones along the East River Park (“Listen2009”), near the Bronx Museum of Art [“Transmutation in the Shift (---Documenting the Grand Concourse)”] and at the Battery Park Labyrynth (“Urban Zen Sound Meditation and Labyrinth Walk”).

Walkers interested in participating are committed to raising a minimum of $100 from “sponsors.” Registration for walks ends June 1.

All walk participants are invited to attend a post-walk after-party at ISSUE Project Room (232 3rd St.), with a musical performance by Ne(x)tworks. Food will be provided.

For more information, including start times and locations of the soundwalks, call 718-330-0313.