Fish Creek Provincial Park Soundwalks with Chad Eastman

About this event

New Works Calgary. Take a walk at night. Walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet become ears. — Pauline Oliveros, Native, 1974 Since its emergence in the 1970s, the practice of soundwalking has spawned multiple other modalities that blend physical activity with intentional listening, such as, soundsitting and soundswimming. This suggests to me that movement, not the modality, is the crux. For me, running is a creative practice of rhythmic movement that facilitates knowledge of self and world. Through experiences of flow and immersion, running encourages the formation of deep relationships between people and places. Sound is movement, too, and moving transforms sound—not just listening to it but feeling it, moving with it, becoming it. Fish Creek, being the second largest urban park in Canada, has many visitors who are participating in outdoor activities whether hiking, running, biking, or paddling. Running then is an effective methodology to conduct research in this park, as it mimics the experiences of many visitors who are moving at heightened speeds and physiological states. For this second and final year of my residency with NewWorks and Friends of Fish Creek, I plan to use running to immerse myself in the soundscape of Fish Creek. The idea is to run a ~10km route multiple times in a month, at different times of day, noting what I hear and what hears me. I am curious about how the park sounds at different times of day, and running helps me traverse it more efficiently. I am curious a