Sensory Practice:
- Moving to explore new visual perspectives of houses on the street
- Walking to hear the mood of the snow - my silent friend during winter.
ChoreoSensing Practice:
Sensory practice - Choreographic practice (for score development) - Participatory practice - Tactical Urbanism practice
Research Problem:
Whether it’s urban or suburban areas in cities, public spaces in residential areas are fundamental to everyday life experiences(1) which have been linked to well-being and quality of life of residents. Consciously or unconsciously, we connect with them through multi-sensory interactions (2) that create overall impressions of our neighbourhood public spaces(3,4), and help establish meaningful connections with the neighbourhood community. However, the drive for creating ‘functional cities’ (5) in the West through ‘disembodied’ practices (6) has detached public spaces from our bodies(7) , instituting the stage of mutual ‘disengagement’ as a retreat from everyday public spaces (8) and deteriorating the sense of belonging to the residential neighbourhood environment. As a result, residents either tend to avoid connecting with public spaces altogether or resemble an ‘auto-pilot’ state (9) manifested through their lack of sensory attention to public spaces– they see the surroundings but do not look, they hear the surroundings but do not listen. In this research, my aim is to devise a sensory engagement practice, which I call ‘ChoreoSensing’ (10), to (re)’engage’ residents with socio-physical dimensions of their neighbourhood public spaces. Focusing on two most dominant senses – visual and auditory - the practice attempts to establish deeper sensory and embodied engagement of residents with physical/material and social aspects of their neighbourhood public spaces. The research is conducted through interdisciplinary methods including sensory walks/movements, choreographic thinking toward pedestrian movements for sensory engagement score development, pop-up interventions (11), participatory experiments with residents and conversational form feedback (12). The purpose of my research is to empower residents to awaken their sensory engagement with neighbourhood public spaces and subsequently, enhance their sense of belonging to the neighbourhood (13,14), through a series of performative and grassroots initiatives.
Works Cited:
1. Certeau, M. D. (1980.). The Practice of Everyday Life (L'invention du quotidien. Vol. 1, Arts de faire'). Paris.: Folio Essais.
2. Dong, Y. (2022.). Designing with Senses: Creating Interactive Multisensory Experiences in Public Space. Pittsburgh. Carnegie Mellon University.
3. Pallasmaa, J. (2016.). The Sixth Sense: The Meaning of Atmosphere and Mood. Archit. Des., 86 (6): 126-133.
4. Hasse, J. (2016.). Traffic architecture- hidden affections. Elements of Architecture: Assembling Archaeology, Atmosphere and the Performance of Building Spaces. Oxon: Routledge.
5. Holston, J. (1989.). The Modernist City - An Anthropological Critique of Brasilia. Chicago.: The University of Chicago Press.
6. The term "disembodied" refers to practices or experiences that are disconnected from the physical body or embodied experience. In the context of public space and city design, disembodied practices refer to approaches that prioritize abstract concepts or ideas over the lived experiences of the people who use those spaces.
7. Pallasmaa, J. (2012.). The Eyes of the Skin -Architecture and the Senses. New York.: John Wiley & Sons. 8. Wacquant, L. a. (2014.). Territorial stigmatization in action. Environment and Planning A., 46: 1270–1280. 9. Middleton, J. (2010.). Sense and the city: exploring the embodied geographies of urban walking. Social and Cultural Geography., 11(6): 575-596.
10. The method and set of tools are inspired by the various past work (see citations) but artistic representation was developed by myself to align with my research objectives.
11. Lydon, M. a. (2015.). Tactical Urbanism: Short-term Action for Long-term Change. Washington, D.C. Island Press.
12. Lerman, L. a. (2022.). Critique Is Creative - The Critical Response Process in Theory and Action. Middletown. Wesleyan University Press.
13. Costanza, R., Fisher, B., & Ali, S. (2007). Quality of life: an approach integrating opportunities, human needs, and subjective well-being. Ecological Economics, 61(2–3), 267–276
14. Di Masso, A., Dixon, J., & Durrheim, K. (2014). Place attachment as discursive practice. In L. C. Manzo, & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.), Place attachment: Advances in theory, methods and applications (pp. 75–86). Routledge.
Theoretical Inspirations:
1. Phenomenology of Perception - Maurice Merleau Ponty
2. The Varieties of Sensory Experience - A Sourcebook in the Anthropology of the Senses - David Howes
3. The Sensory Studies Manifesto - David Howes (2022)
4. The Eyes of the Skin - Juhani Palasmaa
5. Eyes - Michel Serres
6. The Soundscape - Richard Murray Schafer
7. HAGERTY, B. M. K., LYNCH-SAUER,]., PATUSKY, K. L., BOUWSEMA, M" & CoLLIER,P. (1992). Sense of belonging: A vital mental health concept. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 6, 172-177
8. Costanza, R., Fisher, B., & Ali, S. (2007). Quality of life: an approach integrating opportunities, human needs, and subjective well-being. Ecological Economics, 61(2–3), 267–276
9. Di Masso, A., Dixon, J., & Durrheim, K. (2014). Place attachment as discursive practice. In L. C. Manzo, & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.), Place attachment: Advances in theory, methods and applications (pp. 75–86). Routledge.
10. Tactical Urbanism: Short-Term Action for Long-Term Change - Mike Lyndon
11. The Production of Space - Henri Lefebvre
12. The Public Realm: Exploring the City's Quintessential Social Territory - Lyn H. Lofland
13. The Practice of Everyday Life - Michel de Certeau
14. The Death and Life of Great American Cities - Jane Jacobs
15. The Street: A Quintessential Social Public Space - Vikas Mehta
Artistic Inspirtaions
1. Choreographer Maria LaRibot - Visual Perspective study through movements
2. Yvonne Rainer - Choreographing Pedestrian Movements
3. Anna Halprin - Score Making for Dance
4. Pauline Olivero - Text Score making for sound
5. 'Concept of Aletheic Vision' from David Michael Levin
6. John Cage for Listening to the Sound in Nature
7. 'Art of Noises' manifesto by Luigi Russolo
Experiment: Meandering Sidewalk
'Perception is fundamentally a multi-sensory experience.' - The Handbook of Multi-Sensory Processes Edited by Barry E. Stein and Barry S. Stein, MIT Press 2004
Question:
How can I intervene in my everyday visual perception of everyday public space and alter it through choreographic thinking as a means to make myself available to what these physical spaces afford?
Inspired by:
the concept of 'Aletheic Vision' - a pluralistic vision, multiple standpoints, democratic vision- by philosopher David Michael Levin; visual perspective studies done by choreographer Maria LaRibot in Marichai17 - an experimental film in which she was experimenting through her camera while moving to explore new visual perspectives of her already known studio space.
Preparation:
Choose a residential street block for this score. If the block is large, choose a small segment of the block to avoid wayfinding.
Procedure:
a) Stand at one end of the sidewalk ---- Start walking as if the sidewalk is shaped like the body of a snake ---- Walk slowly and observe what is in the immediate environment of the sidewalk ----Walk until you reach the other end of the sidewalk.
b) Turn around and walk back to the starting point ---- This time pause when something interests you on or around the sidewalk ---- Go close to it, move around it if possible and observe ---- Make a shape with your body if it is a fixed object or observe its rhythm and move with it if it is a moving object.
c) Cross the street and repeat a)-b)
d) What new perspectives have you gathered of your sidewalks during the experiment?
e) What specific site(s), or objects - still or moving- attracted your attention? Why?
f) During your observation, what else did you feel like doing? For instance, perhaps you saw something interesting and you felt like touching/smelling/tasting it; or you saw something that brought back a memory; or you saw a new visual perspective that you found poetic.
Experiment: Traffic Dance (update)
The art of noise by Luigi Russolo was about celebrating the new sounds of the future.
'All truly great thoughts are conceived by walking' - Friedrich Nietzsche
Preparation: Traffic sound is the most dominant sound in and around my neighbourhood. Try this during the rush hour in the morning.
Procedure:
a) Stand at a street corner where the main street and your neighbourhood street meet ---- Keep your eyes closed ---- Create a movement with your body every time you hear a vehicle passes by ---- Ask a friend or a family member to film your ‘Traffic Dance’
b) Continue this for 15-20 minutes. How many times have you been bombarded by the traffic sound within this short period of time? How does the soundscape impact your thinking and your relation to your neighbourhood streets?
Choreographic Practice:
- Using walking as a point of departure to create very simple movement patterns for score creation for residents.
Why Residential Neighbourhoods?:
Why residential neighbourhoods? Public spaces in the city centre have drawn considerable attention from scholar, writers, artists as well as practitioners and intellects within the fields of urban planning, design and city planning over the past few decades. While collective efforts from all these cultural, intellectual and practical sectors to engage in critique and debate about city-centre oriented public spaces are commendable, a careful look reveals that public spaces within our residential neighbourhoods – areas of the city where we live, where our families live – more often than not fall outside of these critical conversations. By taking public spaces within residential neighbourhoods of Toronto as my research subjects, I wish to find a place for them within the milieu of critical conversations on public spaces that are already taking place around the globe.
Research Questions:
Main question:
How can a sensory engagement practice within residential areas increase residents’ attachment to their public spaces and (re)awaken their sense of belonging to their neighbourhoods?
Sub Questions:
- How can sensory walking/moving help establish a deeper embodied, visual and auditory engagement with the physical/material and social dimensions of residential neighbourhood public spaces?
- How can choreographic thinking be applied to everyday pedestrian movements for creating scores or instructions that can contribute to a deeper (solo or group) sensory engagement of residents with their neighbourhood public spaces?
Key Definitions with references:
Sensory Experience: Refers to the subjective and embodied encounters we have with with the world through our senses. It encompasses the perceptions, sensations, interpretations that arise from the stimulation of our sensory organs including sight, hearing, touch, taste and smell. Sensory experiences are fundamental to how we understand and engage with the environment, influencing our perceptions, cognition, emotions and behaviour. - (Howes 1991)
Sensory Engagement: refers to the active and immersive involvement of the senses in perceiving and interacting with the environment. It goes beyond passive sensory reception and involves a dynamic process of actively attending to, processing, and responding to sensory stimuli. (Dong’22, Howes'91, Stein 2004)
Sensory experience is embedded in the sociophysical environment (Howes, 91)
Perception is fundamentally a sensory experience (Stein 2004)
Sense of Belonging: The sense of belonging is the experience of a personal involvement in a system or environment which makes people feel that they are an integral part of this environment or system - (Hagerty and Patusky 1995)
Sense of place: is a comprehensive concept which in it men feel places, percept them and attach meaning to them. (Altman/Low 1992)
Place Attachment: Refers to emotional and functional bonds between places and people which interpreted in different scale from a district to a country in Environmental Psychology. - (Svannel 2010)
Theoretical Inspirations:
1. Phenomenology of Perception - Maurice Merleau Ponty
2. The Varieties of Sensory Experience - A Sourcebook in the Anthropology of the Senses - David Howes
3. The Sensory Studies Manifesto - David Howes (2022)
4. The Eyes of the Skin - Juhani Palasmaa
5. Eyes - Michel Serres
6. The Soundscape - Richard Murray Schafer
7. HAGERTY, B. M. K., LYNCH-SAUER,]., PATUSKY, K. L., BOUWSEMA, M" & CoLLIER,P. (1992). Sense of belonging: A vital mental health concept. Archives of Psychiatric Nursing, 6, 172-177
8. Costanza, R., Fisher, B., & Ali, S. (2007). Quality of life: an approach integrating opportunities, human needs, and subjective well-being. Ecological Economics, 61(2–3), 267–276
9. Di Masso, A., Dixon, J., & Durrheim, K. (2014). Place attachment as discursive practice. In L. C. Manzo, & P. Devine-Wright (Eds.), Place attachment: Advances in theory, methods and applications (pp. 75–86). Routledge.
10. Tactical Urbanism: Short-Term Action for Long-Term Change - Mike Lyndon
11. The Production of Space - Henri Lefebvre
12. The Public Realm: Exploring the City's Quintessential Social Territory - Lyn H. Lofland
13. The Practice of Everyday Life - Michel de Certeau
14. The Death and Life of Great American Cities - Jane Jacobs
15. The Street: A Quintessential Social Public Space - Vikas Mehta
Artistic Inspirtaions
1. Choreographer Maria LaRibot - Visual Perspective study through movements
2. Yvonne Rainer - Choreographing Pedestrian Movements
3. Anna Halprin - Score Making for Dance
4. Pauline Olivero - Text Score making for sound
5. 'Concept of Aletheic Vision' from David Michael Levin
6. John Cage for Listening to the Sound in Nature
7. 'Art of Noises' manifesto by Luigi Russolo
Keywords
Keywords: residential neighbourhood public spaces, multi-sensory engagement, performative scores, disembodied vision, environmental soundscape, social soundscape, pedestrian movements, postmodern choreography, participatory practice, tactical urbanism, performative score installations, sense of neighbourhood belonging