Elastic City Presents THE LAST WALKS Festival This Month

This summer, Elastic City, the pioneer of artist-led participatory walks, will present The Last Walks, its seventh and final festival. A diverse lineup of performing and visual artists are creating, and will lead, walks for the public, using sensory-based techniques, reinvented folk rituals and other exercises to investigate and intervene in the daily life of the city and its various communities. Elastic City will present the walks free of charge in locations throughout NYC, July 7-27.

The Last Walks will feature new outdoor walks-given three times each-by artists spanning dance, theater, performance and visual art: dance artist Anna Azrieli, performance artist Becca Blackwell, artists/activists Tania Bruguera and Mujeres en Movimiento, theater director Lee Sunday Evans, choreographer/performer Okwui Okpokwasili and sculptor/performance artist Aki Sasamoto.

Elastic City's Todd Shalom and Associate Artistic Director (and Flea Theater Artistic Director) Niegel Smith will also lead participants on a walk of their own, "The Last Walk," seven times over the course of two days (July 26-27) in Prospect Park. "The Last Walk" will feature re-performed prompts by past Elastic City walk artists. Each of the seven walks will include at least one cameo by an artist who will present their original prompt. Artists for Shalom & Smith's walk include choreographer luciana achugar, new media artist Chiara Bernasconi, dance artist Michelle Boulé, urbanist/visual artist Neil Freeman, video artist Neil Goldberg, writer/painter Wayne Koestenbaum, comedic singer/performance artist Erin Markey, and sound artist Pamela Z.

Each walk lasts approximately 90 minutes and holds 12 people on average. Admission is free, but most walks fill up in advance, so reservations are recommended, and can be made at www.elastic-city.org. Signups are possible at the walk starting point, space permitting.

A description of each walk, with dates and times, is below. More information-including brief biographies of each walk artist-can be found at www.elastic-city.org/artists.

Following The Last Walks, Elastic City will focus on creating a book that provides prompts from a multitude of walks and details best practices for artists and enthusiasts.

Reflecting on the seven-year life of Elastic City, an experiment in a new art form, Shalom said, "Elastic City has been incredibly rewarding-for me and for the artists and audiences involved. Since 2010, we have produced and presented over 125 original works. We've expanded the way in which thousands of people experience their everyday." He continued, "But above all, I feel like Elastic City has fulfilled its mission and has explored this form well. We've developed a method, and are excited to detail its quirks and charms in a book. This is a project in poetry, really, and we're going out with a celebration."

Hyperallergic is the media partner of The Last Walks.

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WALKS:

"Their Shoes" by Aki Sasamoto
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/their-shoes

The East Village, forever gentrifying, still retains its characters. If one wants to dig deeper into the psyche of this neighborhood, a confrontational approach might greet you unkindly. In Their Shoes, Aki Sasamoto will lead participants through Tompkins Square Park using indirect observational techniques. The group will engage in peripheral viewing, following and mimicking exercises for empathizing and co-existing with others.

This walk holds 12 people. Their Shoes will be held in English but Aki also speaks Japanese.

Dates/Times:
Thursday, July 7, 2016; 7:00pm
Tuesday, July 12, 2016; 7:00pm
Thursday, July 14, 2016; 7:00pm

Starting Point: Northwest corner of 1st Street and 1st Avenue in Manhattan
Duration: 90 minutes
Admission: Free
Age: 16+

"Concrete Jungle Gym" by Anna Azrieli
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/concrete-jungle-gym

When my child was small, I spent a lot of time at the playground. I'd be on my phone and chatting with other adults-trying to make the time go faster. Anything to avoid being present in the moment. But once in a while, I'd look up, join my kid in play, and be transported back to the sensations of being young and flying on a swing, balancing on a beam and swooping down a slide.

On Concrete Jungle Gym participants will meet at a Brooklyn playground and re-discover how our bodies can give voice to our current state of play in concert with the structures there. The group will climb, jump and improvise--working intuitively with these tools to build a participatory choreography. A playground dance. From there, we'll take it to the streets, with its signposts, trees and stoops as props for a new group composition. No previous movement experience necessary.

This walk holds 12 people.

Dates/Times:
Saturday, July 9, 2016; 6:00pm
Wednesday, July 13, 2016; 7:00pm
Thursday, July 21, 2016; 7:00pm

Starting Point: This walk will meet on Clermont Avenue (in between Willoughby Avenue and Dekalb Avenue) at the entrance to Albert J Parham Playground in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Please wear comfortable clothing.

Duration: 90 minutes
Admission: Free
Age: 18+

"Tracing our Power" by Lee Sunday Evans
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/tracing-our-power

Director/choreographer Lee Sunday Evans will lead participants on a walk that uses movement-based composition and folk song to transmit power in the radically minded and ever-electric East Village. The neighborhood's electric and gas lines will frame the route while the assembly of a simple circuit guarantees to generate new light on where our power comes from.

This walk holds 12 people.

Dates/Times:

Monday, July 11, 2016; 7:30pm
Monday, July 18, 2016; 7:30pm
Monday, July 25, 2016; 7:30pm

Starting Point: 13 E. 7th Street; Manhattan
Duration: 90 minutes
Admission: Free
Age: 13+

"This is my Worst Nightmare" by Becca Blackwell
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/my-worst-nightmare

Becca Blackwell came of age in the mid-90s West Village dyke culture. As a bartender at Crazy Nanny's and a few other lesbian bars, they lived through drug raids, sexual assaults and even a race riot. Now a performer and trans, Becca revisits the glorious and traumatic episodes of their past and invites participants to re-enact them in their original locations. Techniques from theater, performance art and circus will bring out your inner queen, drug dealer, and closeted Hollywood A-lister.

This walk holds 12 people.

Dates/Times:
Wednesday, July 13, 2016; 7:00pm
Tuesday, July 19, 2016; 7:00pm
Wednesday, July 20, 2016; 7:00pm

Starting Point: 21 7th Ave South in Manhattan
Duration: 90 minutes
Admission: Free
Age: 21+

"La Mano Inmigrante (The Immigrant Hand)" by Tania Bruguera and Mujeres en Movimiento
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/la-mano-inmigrante-immigrant-hand

Cruza la frontera con Corona, únete a Maria, Tania, Valeria y Vero, en una caminata que muestra una verdad que no se admite: todos somos inmigrantes. Durante el recorrido de La Mano Inmigrante, el grupo se imaginará un barrio en el que se celebra el trabajo y la experiencia de todos. Vamos a renombrar las paradas del metro, repasar las historias de vida y, en ese tiempo, trataremos de vivir la experiencia de trabajo de las personas que a menudo son mal pagadas y explotadas, que son esenciales para mantener a flote esta ciudad.

Miembros de Mujeres en Movimiento que están participando: Maria Canela, Vero Ramirez y Valeria Reyes

Esta caminata tendrá capacidad para 12 personas.

Cross the border into Corona and join Tania Bruguera and Mujeres en Movimiento on a walk that presents the unacknowledged truth: we are all immigrants. On La Mano Imigrante, the group will imagine a neighborhood where everyone's work and experiences are celebrated. We will re-name subway stops, pass along our life stories and perform the labor of people who, often underpaid and exploited, do the essential jobs that keep this city afloat.

Featuring the following members of Mujeres en Movimiento: Maria Canela, Vero Ramirez and Valeria Reyes

This walk holds 12 people and will be held in Spanish with English translation.

Dates/Times:
Friday, July 15, 2016; 7:00pm
Saturday, July 16, 2016; 2:00pm
Tuesday, July 19, 2016; 7:00pm

Starting Point: Southeast corner of 46th Ave and 111th Street in Corona, Queens
Duration: 90 minutes
Admission: Free
Age: 13+

"Market Thrum" by Okwui Okpokwasili
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/market-thrum

Join Okwui Okpokwasili on a walk that explores the making of an "embodied collective" in the charged landscape of the South Bronx. Facilitating a multi-sensory exchange with each other and the space, we will slowly walk through the Gold Coast Trading Company (an African market) and work toward an expansive group practice of dynamic movement.

No previous dance experience required.

This walk holds 12 people.

Dates/Times:
Friday, July 22, 2016; 5:00pm
Saturday, July 23, 2016; 5:00pm
Sunday, July 24, 2016; 2:00pm

Starting Point: Northwest corner of E. 138th Street and Park Avenue in the Bronx. This is off the "138 - Grand Concourse" subway stop on the 4/5 train.
Duration: 90 minutes
Admission: Free
Age: 16+

"The Last Walk" by Todd Shalom & Niegel Smith
http://www.elastic-city.org/walks/last-walk

Walk us out
to greener pastures
Tie it tight
Your frayed shoelace

Seven walks for seven years
Prospect Park--our final resting place

Over two days, Niegel and Todd will lead participants on The Last Walk. This walk will occur seven times and feature re-performed prompts by past Elastic City walk artists.

Each of the seven walks will include at least one cameo by an artist who will present their original prompt.

Contributing artists: luciana achugar, Chiara Bernasconi, Michelle Boulé, Neil Freeman, Neil Goldberg, Wayne Koestenbaum, Erin Markey, and Pamela Z

Each of the seven walks holds 12 people.

Dates/Times:
Tuesday, July 26, 2016; 1:00pm
Tuesday, July 26, 2016; 4:00pm
Tuesday, July 26, 2016; 7:00pm
Wednesday, July 27, 2016; 10:00am
Wednesday, July 27, 2016; 1:00pm
Wednesday, July 27, 2016; 4:00pm
Wednesday, July 27, 2016; 7:00pm

Starting Point: Bailey Fountain at Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. Your clothes might get a little dirty on The Last Walk, so please dress appropriately.
Duration: 90 minutes
Admission: Free
Age: 13+

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Elastic City is now in its seventh and final year of presenting participatory walks throughout and outside of New York. 2016 marks their third annual free festival. Elastic City has produced and presented the work of over 100 artists in cities such as: New York, Detroit, San Francisco, Berlin, Buenos Aires, London, Mexico City, Montreal, Paris, Reykjavik, São Paulo and Tokyo.

Todd Shalom, a New York native, devised Elastic City while traveling in Peru and founded the organization in 2010. Having worked in a variety of artistic genres (poetry, sound and performance), he decided to expand upon his existing repertoire of sensory-based walks and commission other artists to lead walks in their own disciplines. Todd works with each artist to help adapt their ideas to the walk format. He serves as Artistic and Executive Director of the non-profit organization.

In 2012, Elastic City launched its educational program, beginning with a series of "ways." Whereas a walk offers the opportunity to participate in a narrative series of poetic moments, "ways" are experiential workshops that explicitly engage participants in *how* to generate these moments through exercises, tools and techniques offered by Elastic City artists. In a "way," participants gather in an intimate group to prompt exchange, tone one's gut feeling and sharpen poetic decision-making. Elastic City ways typically do not involve walking and are offered outdoors unless otherwise noted.

In 2013, Elastic City launched Willing Participant with support from The New Museum's Education Department. Willing Participant whips up urgent poetic responses to crazy sh*t that happens. For more visit www.willingparticipant.org.

In 2014, Elastic City presented its first-ever free walks festival. Over twelve days, it featured walks by ten artists throughout New York City and four talks on the participatory walk form co-presented by Pratt Institute's MFA in Writing.

In 2015, Elastic City expanded its festival to six weeks, featuring walks by eight artists, four talks re-framing the 'artist talk,' and four ways. The talks were developed during Todd Shalom and Niegel Smith's Process Space residency with Lower Manhattan Cultural Council. Elastic City also co-presented Shalom & Smith's scored, participatory performance at The Invisible Dog Art Center. Two Elastic City walks were featured in Group Efforts: Changing Public Space, edited by Gavin Browning (Columbia University GSAPP Books on Architecture).

Elastic City has been commissioned by the following organizations to create new walks, talks, ways and/or participatory performances: The Abrons Art Center, Brooklyn Museum, California College of the Arts, Clark Gallery (Montreal), Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning & Preservation, deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum, The Delaware Center for the Contemporary Arts, The Flea Theater, The Invisible Dog Art Center, Jack Geary Contemporary, The Museum of Modern Art, The New Museum, Performance Space 122, Pratt Institute MFA in Writing, Prelude Festival, Residency Unlimited, River to River Festival, SculptureCenter, Times Square Arts, Visual AIDS and Wave Hill.

Elastic City has partnered with numerous organizations to present its walks, talks and ways and events including: Aerial Arts, American Realness, Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Flea, Consulate General of Spain in New York, The Container (Tokyo), EFA Project Space, Friends of the High Line, Gibney Dance, The Invisible Dog Art Center, JACK, Jack Geary Contemporary, Lab/Shul, Le Petit Versailles, The Library at the Public, Museum of the City of New York, NY Art Book Fair, Open House NY, The Poetry Project, Pratt Institute MFA in Writing, Printed Matter, Reanimation Library, San Francisco Arts Commission, Staten Island Museum, Sunview Luncheonette, UnionDocs, Urban Design Week and White Spider (Mexico City), and The Wild Project.

Photo Credit: Eric McNatt