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Janet Cardiff: The Walk Book
This is the definitive edition documenting Janet Cardiff's audio Walks in Paris, London, and New York. For these walks, Cardiff provided gallery-goers with walkmans which led them through the cities relying solely on the acoustic guide. The urban environment thus became the scene of a mysterious narrative in which the visitors became ever more involved. An artist's book with a CD that “guides” readers through the book with regards to text and illustrations.
- GenresNonfiction
344 pages, Hardcover
First published June 15, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 20, 2021
"I want you to walk with me. Try to listen to the sound of my footsteps so that we can stay together."
A fascinating, behind the scenes peek of Jane Cardiff's 'participatory art and theater'- in which she gave an entire new meaning to audio tours and audio walk (include video tours and walks, too).
She blends real and imaginary into her walks. You might be traversing her NYC walk, but the way she blends reality with a layer or 2 of 'related' soundtracks of birds or a man's voice talking behind you, to which you start to wonder- "Which is real, here?", is just so clever!
She sends her participants out in a real space in which she, the artist of the piece, walked before. She tore apart time and space. She heightened some senses, while ignoring others. Two different modes in time are combined or super imposed, and yet the experience is not jarring- but welcome, playful, and participants game fully partake.
I would love to do audio tours of places around me, and I wanted to learn more of how she did hers, how she made the experience more participatory. The book contains scripts, interviews and a print out of what 18 tracks of voices, sounds, etc look like to make just one of her walks (the book highlights her 11 different audio walks- from a forest to a library).
To walk is to enjoy the transitory.
A fascinating, behind the scenes peek of Jane Cardiff's 'participatory art and theater'- in which she gave an entire new meaning to audio tours and audio walk (include video tours and walks, too).
She blends real and imaginary into her walks. You might be traversing her NYC walk, but the way she blends reality with a layer or 2 of 'related' soundtracks of birds or a man's voice talking behind you, to which you start to wonder- "Which is real, here?", is just so clever!
She sends her participants out in a real space in which she, the artist of the piece, walked before. She tore apart time and space. She heightened some senses, while ignoring others. Two different modes in time are combined or super imposed, and yet the experience is not jarring- but welcome, playful, and participants game fully partake.
I would love to do audio tours of places around me, and I wanted to learn more of how she did hers, how she made the experience more participatory. The book contains scripts, interviews and a print out of what 18 tracks of voices, sounds, etc look like to make just one of her walks (the book highlights her 11 different audio walks- from a forest to a library).
To walk is to enjoy the transitory.
September 26, 2007
Hard to say how I feel about this book because I bought it with a modest expectation that I would be able to take her central park walk again - An amazing psycho-geographic tour of the familiar yet somehow totally unfamiliar parts of the park through a series of found photographs.
Unfortunately the cd only has partial edits of those projects and a lot of the book shows the artist's actual on-paper process of editing. Still an interesting look if you are a super Cardiff fan.
Unfortunately the cd only has partial edits of those projects and a lot of the book shows the artist's actual on-paper process of editing. Still an interesting look if you are a super Cardiff fan.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews