1. Identify the article you have selected and why you chose it.



The article I chose was "Will Self: On ‘Psychogeography’ and the Places That Choose You." This article caught my interest because of Will Self's personal insights and experiences with Psychogeography. This gave me a better understanding of the aesthetic value of walking and listening to an urban landscape and in doing so discovering and learning about the place of which you are a part of.



2. What are the main points of the essay?



The main points of the interview were to highlight the points of a person's pre-concieved notion of "place" and breaking that notion through the exploration of the urban landscape through walking and listening which Self describes as the only real form of exploration left in the post-industrial age. The idea of psychogeography is his backdrop as he explains that one must experience the urban geography without using it. Through the practice of solitary walking, one can see past the illusion that is the urban humanity.



3. How are the ideas or arguments in this article relevant to your own practice as a media artist?


In a general sense, I believe that in order to be an effective media artist, you must sometimes disconnect yourself from your surroundings. In doing so, you allow your mind to think creatively. As it relates to psychogeography, discovering one's own environment and seeing it for what it is lays a fine base of understanding of contemporary urban culture and landscape.

• Were you able to find places and spaces where you could really listen?

Most of the spots that we went to were polluted with the sound of conversation and traffic which made it difficult to hear the sounds of the urban landscape. The best spots to me were the ones where it was quieter. The parking garage for example amplified even the smallest of sounds which made it very easy to hear and listen to sounds.

• Was it possible to move without making a sound?

While moving as a grup and listening together, it was fairly easy to move without making a sound.

• What happened when you plugged your ears, and then unplugged them?

When I plugged my ears I saw things that were making sounds, but couldn't hear them, so I visualized the sound in my head

• In your sound log exercise, what types of sounds were you able to hear? List them.

Hard Soounds: Breaks hissing, skateboards clacking, bikes clicking, sewer covers banging, airplanes soaring.

Soft sounds: trees swaying, people cooking, a squirrel crackling in the dead leaves, water dripping.

• Were you able to differentiate between sounds that had a recognizable source and those sounds you could not place?

There were sounds that i recognized and was able to associate them with a source, but there were plenty of sounds that i was unable to place

• Human sounds? Mechanical sounds? Natural sounds?

There was a constant mixture of these sounds.

• Were you able to detect subtleties in the everpresent drone?

sound frequencies, tones, and pitches were constantly changing in the ever present drone

• Extremely close sounds? Sounds coming from very far away?

The close sounds were generally more quiet and the ones from far away were louder.

• What kinds of wind effects were you able to detect (for example, the leaves of trees don't make sounds until they are activated by the wind)?

The wind hissed in the trees, hummed in the parking ramp, and howled outside mitchel hall

• Were you able to intervene in the urban landscape and create your own sounds by knocking on a resonant piece of metal, activating wind chimes, etc.?

The only sound I made on the sound walk was when I threw a rock down the sidewalk and it skipped along the pavement.

• Do you feel you have a new understanding or appreciation of the sounds of our contemporary landscape/cityscape?

I've definatley learned some good ways to listen and become more aware of different sounds that I hadn't listened to before.

• How do you think your soundwalk experience will affect your practice as a media artist, if at all?

I think that the soundwalk will help me to control sounds in my art and also to realize what I can;t control.