I’ve been thinking a lot about Viv Corringham’s Shadow-Walks lately.
The beauty of a shadow-walk lies in its simple concept: ask others to join them on a walk that is familiar to them and part of their routine, record the walk, and then attempt (and record) the journey solo. The final recordings are layered environmental sounds, conversations, and her improvised singing. (See her words about the process on her website here).
I live a 25-30 minute walk away from WFMU, and over the course of the pandemic, I started to become increasingly more experimental in how I approach this journey, taking new routes every time. Sometimes the walk would end up taking closer to 45 minutes as a result of an *extremely* roundabout route. Lately I've been realizing the creativity hidden within these moments, which has led me to think more about how we find magic in the mundane, walking as meditation, and the mind/body connection to familiar places.
If you’re interested in joining me in this meditation on commuting, I encourage you to record a Voice Memo on your iPhone of your commute (or another routinized walk you do) and send me the recording! It can be a minute, five minutes, a half hour… it’s really up to you. Please also tell me where/when you recorded and if recording the environment led you to notice anything special.
I have recently started upping my recording game by investing in better microphones / recorders, but I’m still a strong believer crappy iPhone recordings as a way to practice deep listening and to prioritize the process rather than pristine sound quality. (And when you edit and layer everything to death anyway, it can hide a lot of the flaws.)
I’ve already gotten submissions after asking folks to send me some recordings on my latest radio show! I hope to make a collage from it all once I have more submissions.
PS - Check out these weird trees I found in Jersey City!