Walk to Listen / Listen to Walk
Link of the project: https://balamronan.net/caminar-para-escuchar-escuchar-para-caminar/
Nowadays
Cities are becoming larger, more dispersed and more fragmented. More and more people stop living
the whole city, live in limited environments and look at the rest of the city as something strange.
We live in cities where the capitalist system designs them at their convenience. An example
of this is the mobility; According to capitalism, a well designed city is one where priority is given to
the circulation through the car, and they often forget to design the cities so that they can also be
circulated through cycling and walking.
We live in cities that are designed without thinking about the encounter of the people as
something important, spaces are not longer created so that people found, stays and dialogue, which
leads to damage of the perception that people have of the world, limiting their knowledge and act in
our societies.
Listen and walk
Listening and walking are acts with which we come into contact with the world, help to make sense
of it, understand it and share it with other people.
They can be actions capable of describing and modifying the spaces that are crossed, the
mere presence of people in a space are already forms of "transformation of the landscape that,
without leaving visible signs, culturally modifies the meaning of space and therefore the space itself."
[1]
Both listening and walking are political and social acts, vehicles of communication, dialogue,
understanding and approach to people, an indispensable means of understanding and
transformation of our realities.
We can listen and walk to stop producing, to consume, to leave the urgency and stress, to
meet us, to know us - to ourselves and to other people- and so listen to us and walk together.
They may be acts capable of strengthen our relations, to put resistance against fear, violence
and repression. Walk together (in a march, demonstration or walk) it can be considered an
appropriation of public space and life itself.
In the current economic, political and social context, listen and walk can be seen as acts of
resistance and rebellion against the capitalist system, because they slow down the hurried pace of
our lives, invites us to stop us, to talk and get to know us, to think about us, our relationships and our
societies.
"Where sound, body and space meet, new dimensions of, and sensitivities towards,
environments can be engaged, and our relationship to these and to ourselves and each other within
these can be re-imagined and transformed." [2]
The everyday
Many actions such as dance, read, go out to party, stop to listen, walk, among others, can be everyday
actions, however the everyday it is part of our way of being, is where we recognize ourselves, the
others and our context. It can be considerer that in the everyday life we can put resistance against the
prevailing political and economic system, because that is where they are generated actions that are
not completely subjugated to the capitalist logic.
Actions
There will be carried out actions in which walking and listening there will be made different routes,
and sound recordings and / or writings of these will be done.
Action no. 1 *
This action took place in the downtown of Queretaro, Mexico, I walked the same route again and
again for an hour, at the same time that was done the sound recording of each tour, which began in
the Garden Zenea and continued by the streets 16 de Septiembre, Allende Norte, the walker
Francisco I. Madero and ended again in the Garden Zenea. This action took place on Friday 2,
October, 2015, between 19:18 and 20:18 hrs.
This action was published in Sonic Terrain:
https://sonicterrain.bandcamp.com/album/str029-caminar-para-escuchar-escuchar-para-caminaracci-n-no-1
Action no. 2 *
This action took place in the neighborhoods Cruz de Fuego and Magisterial, in Queretaro, Mexico, an
attempt was made to walk the same route once every hour for 24 hours straight, at the same time
that was done the sound recording of each tour, which began outside of my house in the José María
Hernández circuit and continued by John Milton street, the walker García Lorca and returned to the
circuit José María Hernández to get to my house. This action took place on Monday 5 and Tuesday 6,
October, 2015, it began at 9:00 hrs, however, at 1:00 hrs in the morning of Tuesday, when I did the
tour, I met a couple of men in the corner of the street from my house, who they were smoking crack
and drinking beer, and one of them became violent, fortunately nothing happened to me, but I
couldn't finish the action. I decided not to do the action again, I think that with the recordings made it
was understood the idea, and at the same time serve as a witness to the violence that we live in
Mexico.
This action was published in La Escucha Atenta:
http://www.laescuchaatenta.com/publicaciones/-lea014-caminar-para-escuchar-escuchar-paracaminar-acci%C3%B3n-no-2-balam-ronan
Action no. 3 *
This action took place in the downtown of Queretaro, Mexico, I walked the same route at the same
hour for one week, at the same time that was done the sound recording of each tour, which began in
the corner of the walker Mariano Matamoros with the Guerrero street, and continued by the
Guerrero Garden, the walker Francisco I. Madero, Allende Norte street, and again by the walker
Mariano Matamoros, until I reach to the corner with Guerrero street. This action took place between
days Wednesday 7 and Tuesday 13, October, 2015, at 19:00 hrs.
This action was published in Auriculab:
http://www.auriculab.net/#!a006-Caminar-para-Escuchar-Escuchar-para-Caminar-Acci%C3%B3nno3-%E2%80%93-Balam-ronan/colb/564a1b280cf2708e001d6e6b
Action no. 4 **
This action con sited in walk in group the same route, at the same time, during a week, and write a
small text where is describing the sounds heard and / or impressions and thoughts on the subject
about each journey.
The journey took place in the Downtown of Queretaro, Mexico, it started at 9:30 am in the
Cinema Theater Rosalío Solano, followed by the Guerrero Garden, the walker Madero, the Zenea
Garden, the walker 5 de Mayo, Plaza de Armas, Pasteur street, the walker and street 16 de
septiembre, until reach again the Cinema Theater Rosalío Solano.
By complications to coordinate our different schedules, we carry out the action in two
stages, the first one took place from Monday 23 March to Thursday 26 March, 2015, and the second
from Friday 10 April to Sunday 12 April, 2015.
This action was carried out in collaboration with Ambar Luna and Jean-Paul Carstensen,
through the project [Re] Post of Astrolabio I Investigación Escénica - http://astrolabio.mx/
Link of the text:
http://issuu.com/balamronan/docs/caminar_para_escuchar_-_escuchar_pa?e=7042913/34573964
Action no. 5 *
This action consisted in walk the same path for three consecutive days at 18 hrs, one tour was done
by car, another by bicycle, and another by foot, at the same time that was done a field recording of
each tour.
The journey took place in the neighborhoods Jardines de la Hacienda and El Jacal, in
Queretaro, Mexico, started in the corner of the street Hacienda Ajuchitlán and Jardines de la Hacienda
boulevard, followed by Hacienda Escolásticas street, the street Hacienda Juriquilla, returned to
Jardines de la Hacienda boulevard, and continued by Hacienda El Jacal boulevard, until reach
Prolongación Zaragoza avenue.
Link of the field recordings:
http://balamronan.bandcamp.com/album/caminar-para-escuchar-escuchar-para-caminar-acci-nno-5
* Project beneficiary of the Support Program for Artistic Production "Apoyarte" 2015 of the
Queretano Institute of Culture and Arts.
** Project carried out in collaboration with Ambar Luna and Jean-Paul Carstensen, through the
project [Re] Post of Astrolabio I Investigación Escénica - http://astrolabio.mx/ - beneficiary of the
Support Program for Artistic Production "Apoyarte" 2015 of the Queretano Institute of Culture and
Arts.
Notes
[1] Careri, Francesco. “Walkscapes. Walk as an aesthetic practice”. Editorial Gustavo Gili, SL,
Barcelona, Spain, 2002, p. 50.
[2] Faubert, Julie, citing Ouzounian, Gascia. “Corps critiques: parcours sonores urbains artistiques et
espace public”. Thibaud, Jean-Paul and Siret, Daniel. Ambiances in action / Ambiances en acte(s) –
International Congress on Ambiances, Montreal 2012, Sep 2012, Montreal, Canada. International
Ambiances Network, 2012, p. 432.
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