[murmur] at Kensington Market & Some Psychogeography Links

[murmur] at Kensington Market

[murmur]in Kensington Market
From the [Murmur]Toronto website:

"[murmur] is an archival audio project that collects and curates stories set in specific Toronto locations. ... As the city in North America where world cultures meet, Toronto's streets conceal a wealth of stories. Toronto's celebrated authors have placed the city in the international conciousness by writing about what makes this city and the people that live in it remarkable. At the same time, rapid progress and growth march on relentlessly; new buildings and facades continually replace the structures that held Toronto's past. The result is many of the stories that make up Toronto's identity are kept inside of the heads of the people who live here.

[murmur] wants to keep these stories alive and on the streets. Interesting things don't only happen at Skydome and Nathan Phillips Square -- the city is full of stories, and some of them happen in parking lots and bungalows, diners and front lawns. The smallest, greyest or most nondescript building can be transformed by the stories that live in it. Once heard, these stories can change the way people think about a place and the city at large."

[[[murmur]]] Whispers Sweet Something In Your Ear
SceneandHeard.ca, Vol 04 - Issue 05

Flâneur by phone
The [murmur] project brings cellular psychogeography to the Annex
Eye Weekly, August 19, 2004

An excerpt on [murmur] as psychogeography:

The academic term for the [murmur] experience is "psychogeography" -- a movement that grew out of '50s Situationist art, which intervened in and commented upon everyday physical spaces. The aimless, watchful figure of the flâneur, as described by philosopher Walter Benjamin, is important to [murmur] thinking, too. Micallef says that to dial in to a [murmur] tale means to "step out of daily routine and see the city from a different angle." He adds that the group's work is "not a linear thing to be used in a set way. You can step out of the subway and hear one story or set out to go through them all." The stories are not numbered, so there is no correct or incorrect order to listening.

Unnecessary walking, watching, listening and imagining is the heart of [murmur]. Yet there's a serious political agenda behind all this pleasurable story-craft, similar to that expressed in Le Flâneur, an 1848 Paris newspaper devoted to the art, which reminded its readers: "in our strolling, let us not forget our rights and our obligations as citizens. The times are necessitous; they demand all our attention, all day long." [murmur] is political by means of its simple operating mechanism. It demands that we walk, not drive, through neighbourhoods; that we go deep, not wide for a change. Dialing up a story doesn't involve wading through sales messages to get to the content.

Marking Time
Eye Weekly, July 1, 2004

An excerpt on the [murmur] project:

"I think there's not enough narratives or stories attached to buildings in Toronto. You walk by a lot of non-descriptness everywhere in the city. You kind of have the feeling that stuff happened here, but there's nothing to tell you either way," Micallef says.

The lack of official historical markings was part of what inspired Micallef and two friends to start the [murmur] project (www.murmurtoronto.ca). Begun last year in Kensington Market, [murmur] consists of posting phone numbers on signs around a neighbourhood. Those who call the number from a cellphone can hear an anecdotal history of the site recorded and archived by someone who knows its history. The success of the project in Kensington has led to a Toronto Arts Council grant for the project to expand to the Annex. [murmur] is currently researching and recording stories and expects to have its first signs up in the Annex in a few weeks.

As Micallef says, there's something important and moving about site-specific history, something you can't get in books.

"I think a huge part of the [murmur] experience is the physical experience of being there. Of being able to stick your finger in the bullet holes or sit on the bench that someone's talking about. You get this kind of 360-degree, five-senses view of it. So the narrative is just one small part of it, the information that's being passed over to you is a small part of it. There's something about that physical location that's useful."

Go to Kensington, call a friend
Globe & Mail, December 20, 2003

Excerpt from this article:

The first area Murmur tackled was Kensington Market, which the three partners picked, Mr. Micallef says, because its layers are still visible. On top of the Victorian infrastructure are remnants of all the influences that have come and gone, such as the tiles of the Star of David in front of some of the storefronts, a small indication that Kensington was once known as the Jewish market. Later marks were made by the area's Portuguese, Caribbean and now Southeast Asian residents.

"It all just kind of mixes here," Mr. Micallef says. "It's chaotic and it's not always squeaky clean, so chunks of the past hang out more with the present than they do in other parts of the city."

Walk softly, carry a tiny phone
Eye Weekly, August 25, 2003

Psychogeography Links

What is Psychogeography?

Psychogeography and the Derive

Psychogeography
Click on 'Research' and then 'Reading Links' for a good list of references; click on 'Links' for an excellent list -- particularly on doing/performing psychogeography in the field.