Weekly Recap: 9/25 - 10/1
Welcome to a very important Weekly Recap. Why? Well it will be the last one under the SoundCloud fellowship! Time sure does fly fast and I’ve had a great time going out and recording sounds in New York and Montreal. I’d like to thank those who sent in sounds for the project your contribution is very well appreciated! Now this doesn’t mean it’s the terminal end of the project. The project will continue, but there will be less posts unfortunately from myself. So this would be an amazing opportunity for all of you lovely followers to send in any sounds if you have any! You might know the drill by now, but if you don’t click on this link and you’ll get all the info you need! Now onto the recap!
Now this week will be a bit interesting because it’ll be sounds from Montreal and NYC! The maps were a bit more challenging due to me not knowing the general topography/urban planning of Montreal. The good news is that I love a challenge and I created a couple of maps I think you’ll enjoy. Now for Montreal I picked out some of the best sounds I recorded and they all coincidentally fall under the same neighborhood! The Quartier des Spectacles is a developing entertainment district in East Downtown Montreal. As I mentioned before the city is creating a variety of events to make sure this district becomes Montreal’s premier attraction - for both tourists and residents alike. So lucky for you all the sounds will be on one map, but I wanted to create another one just for fun. The first map is going to detail what borough the Quartier is in and it’s location in Metropolitan Montreal.
Finally, the next map brings us back to familiar territory. As I mentioned in my post, this final sound is important for me as it represents the city that I’ve come to know. Using the Arch as a catalyst the sounds from Washington Square Park gives you guys a peek into why I adore New York City. From the chattering NYU students, to the street performers, to the tourists, and of course the traffic I couldn’t have chosen a better city to fall in love with.
As that’s a wrap for my fellowship with SoundCloud! Now just one bit of news to share. I have co-organized the NYC meetup for SoundCloud Global Meetup Day this Wednesday. We’ll be doing an audio pizza scavenger hunt! I’m salivating already. To find out all of the details click on this link! Thanks for being an awesome crowd these past few months and remember to check back as I will continue to update the project. Philadelphia will be getting a visit very soon. CIAO!
It’s back to NYC! Now this recording is a bit personal for me because of its location. The Washington Square Arch is one of the most iconic structures in Lower Manhattan. To give you a bit of history lesson the arch was originally wooden and meant to be temporary. The first arch was erected in 1889 to commemorate the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration. This wooden arch became a huge hit ultimately motivating the residents to raise money for a beautiful permanent structure. The arch that we see today, built in 1895, is a product of the City Beautiful Movement - where American cities created public spaces and structures that would rival those in European cities. The Washington Square Arch has since stood at its very spot as the gateway to Washington Square Park and the Greenwich Village.
Now, why is this personal you ask? Well the arch has become an unofficial mascot of sorts to NYU, which just happens to be my alma mater. One of the lasting images I have from my first week at college was looking at the majestic arch set against the backdrop of 5th Ave. and the row of beautiful townhouses on the north side of park. Through the years the Park and Arch became a part of the “campus” I came to know. Even though the site of the arch became commonplace I would never give up the chance to just sit by the structure and just take in the sounds on a nice spring or summer day. That’s exactly what you’ll hear in this recording. The sounds that deepened my love for good old New York.
As always I’m looking for user submissions, so check out this link to find out how you can have your sounds featured on the site!
I’ll be closing out the Montreal chapter of the project this week with this recording. As I walked around downtown I stumbled upon Rue Sainte Catherine about a dozen times. The street is almost like 5th Ave, you can’t really escape it. The portion of St. Catherine I recorded around was a pretty interesting area. It reminded me a lot of St. Mark’s Pl. with tattoo parlors and an overall grungy feel to it. Additionally this section of the street was FILLED with street art. Almost everywhere I looked there was a mural, graffiti, or tagging. It was absolutely amazing. In fact, it was so good that I need to do more than just one picture to illustrate the street correctly. I’ve grown to love these recordings because they ultimately tell the story of a city or neighborhood. Through these sounds you can start to visualize how vibrant of how relaxing a place can be. In this recording you’ll hear some more French Canadian, music blaring from cars, and that bit of wind that never seems to leave me alone.
Now I’m really excited about the sound I’ll be featuring today. The recording was done in Montreal’s “Quartier des Spectacles” specifically by the water fountains in front of the Contemporary Art Museum. The “Quartier des Spectacles” is an initiative by the city and fellow partners to liven up the downtown area through the use of visual culture. By putting up several art installations, public concerts, and more the city hopes that this initiative gives Montreal a unique identity that will keep residents and tourists coming back for more. I find this recording to be a particular stand out for multiple reasons. First I love how Montrealers and tourists interacted with the space. Some sat and read a book, or like myself, enjoyed a mid afternoon snack. Others - like the students in the beginning of the recording - were more active with the fountains playing around and using it to their pleasure. Now you’ll notice that there seem to be two different takes in the same area. Well I came back to the site at the end of my day to take a breath and noticed that all of the fountains were working! When I was there earlier in the day, it was just the main one. As the entire set started up a water show I noticed that the sounds of the water splashing had a bit of a tempo to it! I also love the different languages you hear in the recording, particularly the Canadian French and Spanish at the beginning. If you want to find out more about the Quartier read their mission statement here!
Today’s find takes us to the Lower East Side with the Guggenheim Museum’s BMW Lab. The lab is a new project by the Guggenheim Museum built to ignite discussions in urban development. As the Guggenheim’s mission statement says:
The BMW Guggenheim Lab is a mobile laboratory traveling to nine major cities worldwide over six years. Led by international, interdisciplinary teams of emerging talents in the areas of urbanism, architecture, art, design, science, technology, education, and sustainability, the Lab addresses issues of contemporary urban life through programs and public discourse. Its goal is the exploration of new ideas, experimentation, and ultimately the creation of forward-thinking solutions for city life.
The program is divided into three two-year cycles, each with their own unique theme. The theme for this cycle is Confronting Comfort bringing into discourse the challenge of mixing individual and collective comfort with social and environmental responsibility. I provide a lot more info in the recording so press play and enjoy!
Weekly Recap: 9/4 - 9/10
This past week brought some new sounds and an exciting announcement. On Labor Day I took you to the border of the East Village and the Bowery for a Shepard Fairey mural on the side of the Cooper Square Hotel. On Wednesday we strolled down into the Bowery and stopped by the former Deitch wall on Houston. There we discovered JR’s photographic mural which is a part of his Inside Out Project. On Thursday, I made the exciting announcement of my trip to couple of cities in the next couple of months, the first one being Montreal! Finally on Friday, we had some fellow love as Katie featured my sounds for her Sounds of My City Project.
Today marks the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks. As a native New Yorker and with the heart of this project in New York, I would like to say that this project serves as a reminder of how resilient and vibrant the city is. The sounds paint a contemporary portrait of the city I have and will always love. My prayers and thoughts are with everyone and anyone affected by this great tragedy.
As always check out the maps below to look for the finds yourselves and always remember you can become a part of the project as well! Also Montrealites (is that the right word?) send me your tips before my trip this Thursday!
Summer Nights in Reading, PA - Submitted by Eduardo Lipe
Happy Friday, all! I hope you all had a great first non-summer week, and have some lovely weekend plans! I am going back to Toronto tomorrow to have high tea at Moroco Chocolate in Yorkville with my dear friend, hopefully we can get some Toronto International Film Festival star sightings in!
Today’s sounds come from my fellow fellow, Eddie, whose amazing Without Walls Project is currently on the road up to Canada - the wonderful Montreal, to be exact!
I chose to feature these sounds today as an homage to the end of a wonderful summer. He captured the soothing sounds of a summer night in Reading, Pennsylvania. A lovely soundscape, I think. Eddie explains,
“I recorded the sounds around the time of sunset. Sounds beautiful, even if the bugs can get annoying as they fly into you.”
Oh, the bugs. I know all about ‘em. You can definitely hear them in this recording but it’s so nice to listen to! I elect this sound to be today’s Moment of Zen. So, close your eyes, pause for a couple minutes, and listen to the soothing sounds of summer’s end in suburban Pennsylvania.
Thanks so much for sharing with me, Eddie! Good luck on your road trip up north - get yourself some delicious Montreal Smoked Meat, Poutine, Bagels, Steamed Hot Dogs, and some Tim Horton’s. Cover all your bases.
To follow and participate in Eddie’s wonderful fellowship project, click HERE for his Tumblr blog and HERE for @withoutwallspjt on Twitter.
Have a great weekend, all! I might post once or twice more before I jet off to Berlin, but then there will be a bit of a hiatus on the blog so don’t forget about the project! Keep sending in your submissions, and I’ll post them as soon as I’m all settled across the pond. Tschüss!
Check out my guest sounds on my fellow’s project!
Hello, fellow followers and thanks for coming onto the blog for this announcement. So as you know I’ve been traveling through New York looking for public art spaces - no matter how small or large. Well, I’m happy to announce that I’m taking my one-man scavenger hunt on the road! I will be visiting a couple of cities in the following weeks to document what those cities have to offer in terms of public art spaces. So what cities will I be going to? Well, I think it’ll be fun to keep you guys guessing every week but I’ll announce the city I’ll be going to next week….. Montreal!
That’s right! I’ll be crossing the border and in francophone land for some art fun. So, why am I choosing this city particularly? Well a couple of reasons. One important one, I have friends in the city so traveling there won’t be too expensive. I am a recent grad with no job so gotta cut costs where you can! Another important reason is Montreal’s extensive documentation of all of the official public art work the city possesses - over 200 to be exact. From the research I have gathered Montreal ALSO has a pretty vibrant street art community which of course is a big component of the project. Plus, I think it would be pretty awesome to capture some candid moments in French Canadian, don’t you think? Of course I’ll need some help from you guys in terms of tips! If you guys have any awesome recommendations for public art to see in the city - send it my way (eduardo.i.lipe@gmail.com)! I hope you guys are excited as I am to take this journey on!
Photo Credit: Freshnessmag.com
Happy Labor Day! As many of you take in the unofficial end of summer (and a long weekend) I present to you a new find. This find is by the famed Shepard Fairey and can be found on Bowery & East 5th St. If you don’t recognize the name, you probably have seen his work. Among having murals in almost every corner of the world, he also designed the Obama “Hope” poster that went viral during the 2008 presidential election. In addition his work can be seen in some of the most prolific museums in the world such as the MoMA, the Smithsonian, and the Victoria & Albert Museum in London. The particular mural on the side of the Cooper Square Hotel is part of the hotel’s Art Wall Project. The mural depict a Myanmar Buddhist monk with an umbrella - a surprisingly politically charged subject. In 2007 these monks began to be prosecuted by the government because of their peaceful protests against the rulers. The mural serves as a voice for those being oppressed in Myanmar as well as a reminder of the price of freedom of speech. The sounds captured around the mural are fairly representative of the Bowery: loud traffic and chatty New Yorkers.
