Pussykrew wywiad z Eweliną Aleksandrowicz i Andrzejem Wojtasem

Artists, architects and writers led guided tours & workshops, exposing layers of the city that would otherwise remain imperceptible, layers making up what we normally refer to and perceive as background noise, ambiences or atmospheres.

Within the apparent banality of the everyday lies beauty, horror and imperceptible dynamics that influence and inform the spaces we occupy, as well as our experiences of them. Guided tours of the subtle, subliminal and subtarranean expose invisible layers of the city, drawing into the foreground that which otherwise lingers in the background. The sounds, smells, textures and electromagnetic intensity of the urban environment often pass by unnoticed; through pedestrian exploration of the uncanny underside of Newcastle upon Tyne, these layers of the city are brought to the surface.

Photo documentation of the first event is available here: flickr.com/photos/invisible_architectures/

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myself and Andrzej took part in SYMPTOMS workshop with legendary Martin Howse :) >> [http://www.1010.co.uk/org/]

http://subliminalcity.co.uk/people/martin-howse/symptoms

Symptoms, an exploratory workshop and tour lead by Martin Howse.

“And this is the reason why it is impossible in a visitation to prevent the spreading of the plague by the utmost human vigilance: viz., that it is impossible to know the infected people from the sound, or that the infected people should perfectly know themselves.”
Daniel DeFoe. Journal of the Plague Year.

With the city of Newcastle identified as a layered site of contagion and execution, a leaky processor Symptoms proposes a revealing of materiality and message, of self-evident signal and carrier within the landscape of the plague city. Methods of revelation are not limited to the esoteric (EVP, ITC, dowsing), the scientific, aesthetic, forensical (as a science also), archaeological, epistemic, and the fetishistic or psychoanalytic. The crypt and cryptographic (decoding) refer to a certain inscription and digging; divining a diagram of execution. Activities will include the dowsing, scrying and divining of buboes on the skin of the city, the rubbing, tracing and excavation of these sites (inscription and playback of the stone tape using self-built apparatus) towards the collective production of a strange hybrid of archaeologists/forensics report, an essay in self-observation and social questionnaire.

Activities in detail

dowsing, scrying and divining of buboes on the skin of the city

how to arrive at the site?

dowsing rods, pendulum, scrying EM sites (also listening EM), observation, questions/discussion

rubbing, tracing and excavation

of these sites (inscription and playback of the stone tape using self-built apparatus)

rubbing/tracing techniques: laser/photodiode, record needle and piezo/speaker/coil/paper cone, cassette or hd head (inductive), crayon rubbings, cast making with latex, silicon and lead

also inscription (drill, needle and speaker)

collective production of a strange hybrid of report

archaeologists/forensics report, an essay in self-observation and social questionnaire.

Schedule

A series of three walks identifying, examining and overlaying visibility and enclosure in the city of Newcastle.

- the in-visibility of symptoms (incubation)

- the in-visibility of contagion (atmosphere, comets, rats, insects)

- the enclosure against the plague

Day 1: scrying for electromagnetic buboes (visible and divined)

Day 2: rubbing, tracing, scratching, scraping – city skin surface playback and inscription at key sites (dragging)

Day 3: excavation, overlay, casting and city → skin transfer of plague buboes. the report

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through out 3 days we’ve been exploring newcastle city and investigating electro magnetic field, using special equipment / diy made electronic circuits / hand made copper collars … and listening to city ‘symptoms’ / searching for electro-magnetic energy points.. we’ve collected recording of the signals we’ve been hearing.

the last day we’ve been casting the city site details.. using dragon skin* – special silicone rubber [same one which i got to build my controller]

dragon sking is a kind of liquid rubber, high quality material which imitates the skin, it casts very fast.. it is used in film industry to imitate body parts and faces, wounds etc.. its extremely exciting and fun to work with this substance.. the whole process of mixing it with black pigment and painting the city walls was very interesting.. im planning to experiment more with rubber liquids and dragon skin* [i have some experience with liquid latex and silicone + casting but i really would like to make more and more forms and projects with it..]

the whole workshop was superfascinating..

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here are some recordings of the magnetic’ sounds of the city : http://soundcloud.com/invisible-architectures

and pics by niochnioszki* ::