ELASTIC CITY CONTINUES TO EXPAND, New York, USA

[Marlon Barrios Solano]

Trailblazing Conceptual Walks Organization Announces Third Season

Two years ago, Elastic City was just an innovative idea. Poet and performance artist Todd Shalom, then 33, returned to New York from living abroad and wanted to continue to have the feeling of travel while back in his hometown. Drawing upon the community of artists and thinkers he inhabits in New York and around the world, he started Elastic City to present conceptual walks that make audiences active participants in a poetic exchange with the places we live in and visit. The organization, now entering its third season, has already surpassed Shalom’s dream. Over 30 artists thus far have led walks, not only in New York, but also in Detroit, Buenos Aires, London, Reykjavik and Sao Paulo. Upcoming walks are planned for San Francisco, Berlin and Paris.

The new season, which runs April to October 2012, features walks from American and international artists, both emerging and established. These include: Adam Weinert; Andrés Andréani (Argentina); Andrew Mount; Ben Weber; Eileen Myles; Felipe Meres (Brazil); J. Morrison; Jon Cotner; Josely Carvalho (Brazil); LoVid (Tali Hinkis & Kyle Lapidus); Lynn Marie Kirby & Alexis Petty; Maria Chavez; Matthew Radune; Meredith Ramirez Talusan; Michelle Boulé; Miguel Gutierrez; Nancy Nowacek; Neil Goldberg; Niegel Smith; Office of Recuperative Strategies (Christian Hawkey & Rachel Levitsky); Pratt Institute students; Robert Mauksch; Sarah Owens; Todd Shalom; Tomaz Hipólito (Portugal); Xavier Acarin (Spain).

Some highlights include internationally acclaimed dance artist Miguel Gutierrez’s unique “Sensewalks,” which plan to awaken, explore and illuminate the senses through movement-based techniques. He will lead participants through such locales as the High Line, the New York Public Library, the Staten Island Ferry and Prospect Park. “Stories the City Tells Itself” is a walk through the lens of video artist Neil Goldberg that will capture everyday passenger behavior in NYC subways. Using their brand new reality-warping GPS-based smartphone app, iParade, LoVid will trace the path of Alexander Hamilton’s oft-moved house in Hamilton Heights (Harlem).

What follows is a listing of walks offered from April through June.

ELASTIC CITY WALKS, SPRING 2012

“Moss Me” by Tomaz Hipólito
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/moss-me

In "Moss Me," Tomaz Hipólito presents participants with a recipe for a green intervention amidst Manhattan's dense urban landscape. Drawing on Tomaz' background in architecture and his current practice in visual art, the group will identify and evaluate abandoned objects to paint, then use a homemade mixture of moss and yogurt to coat the objects. Individually and in groups, participants will paint these objects, re-engaging the street's detritus.

This walk holds eight people and is presented in partnership with Residency Unlimited and Le Petit Versailles (a program of Allied Productions, Inc). “Moss Me” will be held in English, but Tomaz also speaks Portuguese and Spanish.

Dates/Times
Thursday, April 12, 2012 at 6:30pm
Wednesday, April 18, 2012 at 6:30pm    
Wednesday, April 25, 2012 at 6:30pm

Walk Starting Point
346 East Houston St. in Manhattan. "Moss Me" meets outside Le Petit Versailles public garden.

Duration
90 minutes

Admission
$20

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Stories the City Tells Itself” by Neil Goldberg
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/stories-city-tells-itself

On this walk, video artist Neil Goldberg invites participants to experience the observational processes behind his work in real time. The group will traverse a section of the subway with attention directed to details of the underground environment and nuances of passenger behavior that might otherwise go unnoticed. Goldberg will share his poetic approaches to seeing, refined over 20 years of creating art in New York. This walk holds 15 people and will end inside the Museum of the City of New York's exhibition of Goldberg's work.

This walk is presented in partnership with The Museum of the City of New York. There will be no walk-ups for this walk; prepayment is required.

Dates/Times
Thursday, May 10, 2012 at 3:00pm
Saturday, May 12, 2012 at 3:00pm

Walk Starting Point
The meeting location will be in the Lower East Side and disclosed upon registration.

Duration
2 hours

Admission
$25 for non-members; $20 for Museum members, seniors and students

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sensewalks by Miguel Gutierrez

Each walk holds 16 people. All abilities welcome.

Sensewalk #1: “EVERYTHING IS NEW”
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/sensewalk-1-everything-new

For the first of the four Sensewalks, participants will gather in Prospect Park to investigate the five basic senses—hearing, seeing, smelling, tasting and touching—teasing their particular properties apart through anatomical and experiential exercises and then watching how they interact, compete, rise and fall to construct a magical and wondrous reality. Miguel will then lead these new bodies on a trip through the Prospect Park Greenmarket. Be ready to roll in the grass.

Date/Time
Saturday, May 19, 2012 at 12:00pm

Walk Starting Point
Please meet at the big arch (Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch) at Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn.

Duration
100 minutes

Admission
$20

Sensewalk #2: “MOVE ME BABY”
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/sensewalk-2-move-me-baby

Get ready to speed up, slow down, get on your feet and then fall off balance. In the second Sensewalk, Miguel Gutierrez will lead participants in playing with the different components of the movement senses so that every place becomes a potential context for physical adventure. The group will be moved across the water via the Staten Island Ferry where they’ll take their sea legs for a spin.

Date/Time
Wednesday, May 23, 2012 at 6:30pm

Walk Starting Point
Broadway and Beaver Street in Manhattan, in front of the HSBC bank. Please wear something comfortable that won’t constrain your high kicks!

Duration
90 minutes

Admission
$20

Sensewalk #3: “SPACE IS THE PLACE”
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/sensewalk-3-space-place

In the third Sensewalk, we'll go in to go out—way out. Participants will enter the hallowed halls of the New York Public Library to travel into the senses of space and time. Using the simplest of actions – walking, standing, sitting, lying down – the group will find out how our bodies register the poetics of the environment and observe how a seemingly stable environment becomes an arena for change and possibility.

Date/Time
Saturday, June 2, 2012 at 1:00pm

Walk Starting Point
Meet at the bottom of the front steps of the New York Public Library (the Stephen A. Schwarzman Building) on Fifth Avenue at 42nd Street in Manhattan.

Duration
90 minutes

Admission
$20

Sensewalk #4: “GIVE ME SOMEBODY TO SHOW”
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/sensewalk-4-give-me-somebody-show

In the fourth and final Sensewalk, participants will take flight on to the High Line to explore an exciting and interconnected array of senses that relate to play, composition, and performance. Using the context of one of the most popular destinations in NYC as a playground, studio and stage, participants will find out how to unleash the art and performance makers inside us, as the group traipses along the slippery lines between participant and observer. Have no fear!

Date/Time
Wednesday, June 6, 2012 at 6:30pm

Walk Starting Point
Northwest corner of Gansevoort St. and Washington St. in Manhattan

Duration
90 minutes

Admission
$20

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Unchanged When Exhumed” by LoVid
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/unchanged-when-exhumed

Building upon their work that renews appreciation of the physical environment through a digital lens, LoVid, along with guest performers and their newly developed smartphone application, iParade 2, will lead "Unchanged When Exhumed." Participants will travel the route of Hamilton Grange’s historical move around Harlem. Using locative video that transforms one's surroundings into a virtual set, participants may graze with a hungry tree, safari in jungles between residential homes and the street, and climb hills to uncover an emerald treasure. This walk holds 15 people.

Directed, written, filmed, and produced by LoVid

App development by Sean Montgomery

Soundtrack by Maria Chavez

Theme song by Dan Friel

With appearances by: Juan Pazmino, Pauline Decarmo, Yoni Weiss, Silvia Angulo, Gregory Sheppard, Irene Moon, and Vera Beato Smith

"Unchanged When Exhumed" is made possible with support from DiAP NY City College, Experimental TV Center Finishing Funds, NYSCA, rhizome.org, Franklin Furnace Fund, and Elastic City.

Dates/Times
Thursday, June 7, 2012 at 7:00pm
Saturday, June 9, 2012 at 4:00pm
Saturday, June 9, 2012 at 6:00pm

Walk Starting Point
1619 Amsterdam Avenue in Manhattan, outside of Cafe One. Participants should arrive to the walk with a fully charged smartphone (iPhone or Android) and be prepared to download a free App. Headphones are optional.

Duration
1 hour

Admission
Free

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Necessity” by Todd Shalom & Niegel Smith
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/necessity

This walk is what you need it to be. We're all in this together.

"Necessity" holds 6 people.

This walk will be held in English but the artists also speak Spanish.

Date/Time
Sunday, June 10, 2012 at 4:00pm

Walk Starting Point
29 Union Square West in Manhattan, in front of "Coffee Shop"

Duration
Unknown. (Since the duration is unknown, please plan accordingly.)

Admission
$20

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“Superfun/d Speed Date” by Ben Weber
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/superfund-speed-date

Hi. My name is Ben. I'm a Capricorn and my spirit animal is a moose.

They say this is the year when everything changes. The sun will flare, the poles will crumble, and the heart of the galaxy will align with the center of the Earth. As humans, we're the shepherds of this cosmic transition. Personally, I'd like to convene with the Mayan ancients as much as the next guy, but it's tough forging meaningful connections in the sweaty New York City summertime.

Let me take you to a tangle of art & industry in LIC, where we'll prepare for this new cycle using techniques from applied theater. We'll peek into a poisoned creek and sculpt our bodies into the baggage we wish to leave behind as we enter the World of the 5th Sun from world of the 7 train.

This walk holds 8 people.


Dates/Times
Tuesday, June 12, 2012 at 7:00pm
Thursday, June 14, 2012 at 7:00pm
Saturday, June 16, 2012 at 7:00pm

Walk Starting Point
46th Ave and Vernon Blvd. in Long Island City, Queens in front of LIC Bar.

Duration
2 hours

Admission
$20


About Elastic City

Todd Shalom, a New York native, devised Elastic City while traveling in Peru and founded the organization in 2010. Having worked in a variety of artistic genres (poetry, sound and performance), he decided to expand upon his existing repertoire of sensory-based walks and commission other artists to lead walks in their own disciplines. Elastic City walks explore various planes of human sensory and aesthetic experience, such as dance, architecture, poetry, sound art, the paranormal and ritualistic performance.

Elastic City is now in its third season of presenting conceptual and poetic walks by artists throughout and outside of New York. With this season, over 50 artists will have led walks.

Elastic City has partnered with numerous organizations to co-present its walks, including Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Flea, Le Petit Versailles, Museum of the City of New York, NY Art Book Fair, Open House NY, Pratt Institute, Residency Unlimited, Wave Hill and Urban Design Week.

In 2012, Elastic City will launch its educational program, beginning with a series of “ways.” Whereas a walk offers the opportunity to participate in a narrative series of poetic moments, "ways" are experiential workshops that explicitly engage participants in *how* to generate these moments through exercises, tools and techniques offered by Elastic City artists. In a "way," participants gather in an intimate group to prompt exchange, tone the gut and sharpen poetic decision-making. Elastic City ways typically do not involve walking and are offered outdoors unless otherwise noted.

Each walk & way lasts approximately 75-120 minutes and costs $20 on average.

Payment for walks & ways can be made on-site or via the Elastic City website at: http://www.elastic-city.org

Elastic City is a non-profit organization awaiting 501c3 status and is currently fiscally sponsored by Flux Factory.