THE VISITATION

a soundwalk for Jackie Robinson Park, inspired by the 2016 appearance of the Harlem deer

 
 

Black-Eyed Susan; photo by Dan Efram

created by Stephanie Fleischmann, Christina Campanella, and Mallory Catlett
music, narration, audio production: Christina Campanella
words: Stephanie Fleischmann

Inspired by the appearance of a one-antlered deer in Harlem in 2016, this site-specific sound walk is a meditation on the presence of the mythic in the everyday and the uneasy relationship between the built environment and the natural world. THE VISITATION takes the listener on an urban odyssey in search of the collective memory of the deer’s sojourn in Jackie Robinson Park. Via geo-located avant-pop songs that conjure a series of encounters with the buck and a soundscape threaded through with the ethereal voice of the deer, this visceral sonic journey charts the histories and hauntings of the park’s urban geography, embedded within the geology of time. A visceral sonic journey through our longing for the solace of the wild.

REVISED

by Campanella and Fleischmann in 2023

& RELAUNCHED

c/o URHERE IN 2023. Experience in context, on-site, in Jackie Robinson Park, or remotely, from home.

Performers: Sammy Baker, Black-Eyed Susan, Abraham Gomez-Delgado, Carl Hancock Rux, Callie Katrice Holley, John-Andrew Morrison, Ryan Packard, Mia Pixley, Jude Shimer, and Mark Spencer.

Commissioned by HERE Arts Center #stillHERE 2021, with support from Café Royal Cultural Foundation and Foundation for Contemporary Arts

Website: www.ihaveseenthedeer.com