Urban Sensoria

Urban Sensoria is an experimental method of experiencing and exploring the city. It is also a theoretical inquiry into cities, culture, memory, experience, and how it relates to traditional media and new technologies. It consists of an exhibition (through Dec. 8th) focused on Shimokitazawa (Tokyo) and a workshop to explore El Raval in Barcelona. Both are part of the Barcelona International Contemporary Art Festival.

In the workshop (Nov. 30-Dec. 2) we will experiment with ways we explore the city, guided by our senses, the culture that shapes them, and the city itself. In particular, the workshop will focus on El Raval, an interesting neighborhood in Barcelona undergoing rapid changes.

We will meet over 3 days (and nights), use special tools we have developed for mobile phones for capturing media experiences and for presenting them (collaborative mashups!)

A city is experienced, inevitably, as seen through the self and compared with the cities that have shaped that self. This connection between the self and the city is what makes us identify with a particular physical space of a particular city. But the sensory experience of the city can be determined by many different factors: we can choose a form of navigation (walking, running, driving, flying, crawling), and a speed (slow, medium, fast), and we can choose a sensory focus (smell the city, observe it, listen to its sounds, to strangers’ conversations). We can also determine how we navigate through the city-we may explore it randomly given its physical constraints, follow shortest paths to reach places, look for markers or monuments, or simply follow sensory intuition (how many times have you followed smells in a city?). .. (more on the website! http://www.urbansensoria.com)