In the fall of 2011 C3 produced a series of four walking tours around Northampton, called Foot Notes. I was inspired to develop these walking tours after participating in a Sound Walk offered by Elastic City at the Creative Time “Living as Form” summit in NYC last September. I loved the simple idea of walking around with other people in an area and noticing what we noticed, together.  For me, it opened up a new way to seeing and experiencing space, and turned the usual solitary act of walking from one place to another into a collective adventure.

Foot Notes was a way to intentionally explore Northampton, and to share new ways to seeing, interacting, and experiencing the spaces around us. With the help of the C3 Collective, we held four 90 minute walks in late fall of 2011- Secret Spots, Public Aesthetics Crawl, Sound Walk, and Follow the Leader. Each tour had a very different focus and feel, and presented new gems, challenges, and discoveries.

Here is a little retrospective of the four tours, told through text and photos (click to enlarge!).  Stay tuned for more walks in the upcoming months!

_________________________________________________________________________________

– – – – – – – – – – – – <  Tour # 1 : SECRET SPOTS  > – – – – – – – – – – – – Sunday, November 13th – – – – – –

Co-produced by Haley Morgan & Teal Van Dyck

This first walk visited some of our favorite spots in Northampton, off of the beaten path. We have so many favorite hidden nooks and crannies in this town that it was hard to choose a few to show others! We went through alleys, down dirt paths, in the woods, behind buildings, into the shadows, and outside of our comfort zones. As a group, we felt bold! Unstoppable! This was a great walk to kick off the series.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________

– – – – – – – <  Tour # 2 : PUBLIC AESTHETICS CRAWL  > – – – – – – – -  Friday, November 18th – – –

Co-produced by Haley Morgan & Perry Huntoon

We were very excited about conducting this walk, which visited some of the most interesting looking spots around Northampton. This tour highlighted various sites of public art (both solicited and not), graffiti & street art, interesting architecture, public projects and commissions, street signage, and more. We wanted to investigate the “look” or “looks” or Northampton, how those choices make us feel, how they came to be and who made those decisions, and why. How does the look of a space affect our experience of that space?

 

_________________________________________________________________________________

– – – – – – – – – – – – <  Tour # 3 : SOUND WALK  > – – – – – – – – – – – -  Sunday,  November 27th – – – – –

Co-produced by Haley Morgan & Javiera Benavente

This was a silent tour which focused on listening as a primary way of experiencing space, rather than looking. We went through many different environments (urban, rural, interior and exterior) and noticed what we heard. How does sound shape our understanding of our environment? What sounds do we hear, and where do they come from? Are they made by humans, machines, or nature? What do those sounds say about our community?

 

__________________________________________________________________________________

– – – – – – – – – <  Tour # 4 : FOLLOW THE LEADER > – – – – – – – – -  Saturday, December 3rd – – – –

Co-produced by Haley Morgan & Jacqueline Dougherty, in collaboration with all attendees

This walk was unlike the rest of the Foot Notes tours, in that there was not a designated leader or leaders. Each person who showed up took turns leading the group for about 10 minutes, and had an opportunity to decide where the group went and how they got there. We all wore red clothing and walked single file (for the most part). The mood of this walk was very playful and mysterious, as none of us on the walk were sure about where we were going or about to do, and neither did the people we passed along the way.

 

_________________________________________________________________________________