Anthology for Listening Vol. II – ”Cityphonic Walks” – City Center For Just The Two Of Us
”Cityphonic Walks” – City Center For Just The Two Of Us
Irene Kalogeropoulou
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The heart of the city has a certain tempo and if you
listen deeply there is a heart chant in different times.
Visit the center for two times in two different days and listen for two interesting beats.
Search for the gap between two such beats, the grey gap between black beats: the tender interval.
To grasp a rhythm it is necessary to have been grasped by it; But to grasp this fleeting object, which is not exactly an object, it is therefore necessary to situate yourself simultaneously inside and outside. (Lefebvre, Rhythmanalysis, 2004)
In every city center, there is a McDonald’s with a window facing the street. It serves its purpose perfectly.
Go there and listen while being inside out. Try to listen between the capitalistic sounds of the city center.
Now follow the route of the restaurants and shops. Set a timer for 3 minutes. Step in and out of shops. Listen to their music.
John Cage once said: “I intend to compose a piece of uninterrupted silence and sell it to Muzak Co. Its title will be Silent Prayer.
It will open with a single idea which I will attempt to make as seductive as the color and shape and fragrance of a flower.”
When the 3 minutes are up imagine the sound of that flower.
Find a person you love to walk together and share your imagined sound.
Continue walking. Disrupt the rhythms of normality.
Choose a spot in the city to listen to yourself. Look for your pulse. How does it sound?
Place one hand on your neck and the other on your partner’s neck.
Can you hear two hearts beating at the same time?
Close your eyes.
Listen.
Your body.
The body of another.
The body of the city.
Listen to the tender interval between these bodies.
Now, record on a blank piece of paper what you heard—with words, notes, drawings, etc. This is your own heart’s chant.
Keep this piece of paper for a protest, and give it as a gift to someone you are walking with.