Drift Atlas

One way to circumvent the usual way in which urban landscapes are negotiated is by walking, paying close attention to sonic and visual details often overlooked when we usually pass through on our way to somewhere else. By doing this, we take on the role of artist-as-cartographer, making unique and interesting maps that open up the possibilities of how to understand the world in which we live.

Geographically speaking, an effective map defines the precise locations where your material was captured which is useful for someone visiting your map now or a hundred years from now. A map can be about much more than geography, however, as the artist-as-cartographer can augment and annotate the map with personal and symbolic meanings, associations, and links to innumerable paths and diversions. Optional: you may also annotate your maps with GPS coordinates or other forms of locative media.

An atlas is a collection of maps. The Drift Atlas, therefore, is a blog where you will collect, organize and link all of your individual site maps, notes, sketches, and diagrams you will be making in this class. Your Drift Atlas must contain, at the very minimum, documentation of your Soundwalk and the two primary Drift Maps for Drift 1 and Drift 2.

Review the Drift Atlas PowerPoint lecture. (PDF)

Soundwalk Map and Response

You must document your Soundwalk experience by posting your notes, maps, and reflections:

• Soundwalk Area Map: a map of the overall area of the Soundwalk, start and end points, the route walked, and stops along the way
• Sound Body Map: a map of the sounds you heard, visually depicted as a swarm or cluster of events surrounding you (situated in the middle of the map)
• Sound Log: your original notes listing the names of the sounds you heard
  

You must also include your responses to the following questions:

1. Were you able to find places and spaces where you could really listen?
2. Was it possible to move without making a sound?
3. What happened when you plugged your ears, and then unplugged them?
4. What types of sounds were you able to hear? List them. If your original notes are legible, and include all of the sounds you heard, then simply link to the scanned image(s). If not, retype them so that we can read them.
5. Were you able to differentiate between sounds that had a recognizable source and those sounds you could not place?
6. Were you able to differentiate human, mechanical, and natural sounds?
7. Were you able to detect subtleties, changes, or variations in the everpresent drone?
8. Extremely close sounds? Sounds coming from very far away?
9. Were you able to intervene in the urban landscape and create your own sounds by knocking on a resonant piece of metal, activating wind chimes, etc.?
10. Do you feel you have a new understanding or appreciation of the sounds of our contemporary landscape/cityscape?
11. How do you think your soundwalk experience will affect your practice as a media artist, if at all?

Soundwalk Area Map

Sound Body Map

Sound Log Notes

Drift 1 Map

Your Drift 1 Map must include the following:

• the outermost boundaries of your Drift 1 area (including an overall reference to City and State)
• the starting point and ending point of your Drift 1 walk
• the route of your walk as determined by your Drift strategy
• key soundmarks pinpointed with markers or symbols
• detailed descriptions of these soundmarks
• dates and times you explored these sites
• individual hand-drawn site maps for each of the five sounds posted on your Drift 1 Blog

Drift 2 Map

Your Drift 2 Map must include the following:

• the outermost boundaries of your Drift 2 area (including an overall reference to City and State)
• the starting point and ending point of your Drift 2 walk
• the route(s) of your walk(s)
• key soundmarks / landmarks pinpointed with markers or symbols
• detailed descriptions of these soundmarks / landmarks
• dates and times you explored these sites
• the Drift 2 map may be included on the same map as Drift 1 (on the same Googlemap, for example), but each Drift must be color-coded so that the two Drift experiences are separate and identifiable

The Drift Map may be hand-drawn, collaged, painted, or created digitally via GoogleMaps (or a combination of these). (See the GoogleMap tutorial). If your Drift area is too large and detailed to fit on a single map, you can create a master map with smaller detail maps. (Please note the the five site maps for the five sounds posted on Drift 1 must be hand-drawn.)

We define “maps” pretty broadly, so don't worry if you feel you can only draw "stick figures." We aren't looking for the best drawing ever made, but we are looking for a well-considered depiction of key sites, soundmarks, and areas of particular visual richness (along with clear written descriptions). Your map(s) will improve upon or incorporate the sketches and diagrams you made while on your Drift walks.