Going Out – Walking, Listening, Soundmaking

by Elena Biserna ed.

Since the 1960s, the act of walking has provided a way for artists and musicians to escape the formality of the concert hall or institutional venue, engaging with shifting public spaces, natural environments, and the social and political sphere. Walking redefines notions of composer, performer, public, and music itself, while opening new modes of perception and action. Going Out addresses these developments by exploring the relationship between walking, listening, and soundmaking in the arts―from the first soundwalks and itinerant performances in the 1960s to today's manifold ambulatory projects. The book consists of an extensive essay by Elena Biserna followed by an anthology of historical and contemporary contributions in the form of documentation, essays, interviews, manifestos, scores, narratives, and reflections. Through the variety of these contributions, the book makes an argument that at the intersection of walking, listening, and soundmaking there is both a long legacy of interdisciplinary experimentations and a broad field that resounds with urgent issues in critical spatial thinking and practice.

580 pages, Paperback

Published December 1, 2022

Reviews

[kari trail · Rating 4 out of 5]

a huge read (i made it 3/4 of the way until i maxed out of renewals at the library)—but conceptually super interesting. potentially *too* dense for me at least… but i imagine this may not be the case if “sound” and “movement” are your kind of niches.

the practice of soundwalking can be: a potential site of intervention or reclamation of public spaces (elena biserna), a “musical duet” with urban atmospheres/everyday people (layla gaye), a performative act (david helbich), an invisible itinerary negotiated between our will to get from here to there (tao g. vrhovec sambolec), an anti-utilitarian act where we humanize through listening or silence “preferably, in the company of others” (vivian caccurri)… and so on! etc etc

it can also act as a catalyst into fiction and daydreaming. “walking becomes an exploration of a multiple and opaque territory and the listeners find themselves immersed in a fictional universe that is activated with each step.” i’m also very fascinated by “feminist geography” and the unwanted visibility/hyper visibility of fem/queer/poc bodies in spaces, and the geography of fear that comes with it. as chantal mouffe puts it: “these struggles already involve their own practices wherein listening enacts solidarity and dialogue… learning to listen is the intentional task of solidarity; listening in tension.” but even within these very real parameters there is still room for desire and play, a spirit of optimism that carried across the book.

i like the personable notes on ambiance, too. considering it as a liminal space between unfixed moments and sounds, alive or not, loud or quiet, sensual or subdued: “perhaps this ‘in-between’ is another way of saying that the ambiance hears itself.”

additionally tim ingold proposes a few ideas on the affective relationship between the body and the world, and how there’s this intrinsic connection built by attention, patience, and a listening ear. he says “to listen is continually to be reminded that we are not just possessors of the world in which we move around and find our being, but possessed by it.” listening as humility! cute

do you mind if i add one more quote? this is rebecca solnit. “walking has created paths, roads, trade roots; generated local or cross-continental senses of place; shaped cities, parks; generated maps, guide-books, gear, and, further afield, a vast library of walking stories and poems, of pilgrimages, mountaineering expedi-tions, meanders, and summer picnics. the landscapes, urban and rural, gestate the stories, and the stories bring us back to the sites of this history.” emotional!

i kept thinking about this book as i went on walks and how we’re all just little perambulating humans, listening and walking and playing with the world. how cool is that

[Siggy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Genius will be highly influential and highly recommended. This book came to me at a perfect moment and shaped the way I listen and look at the world. This book holds a lot of memories since I have been reading publicly since August and to others seems kind of a ridiculous topic for a book. This book is genius though truly eye opening.

[Kory Reeder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nothing short of monumental.