Mapping Senses
Walk 1
Touch
On the first walk, I focused on the sense of touch. I wasn’t sure what to suspect or how I wanted to organize my gatherings; so, I went with the flow and welcomed my passing thoughts to guide me. Here is the route I took:
It was right after I crossed Mabel Street when I started to focus my attention on interesting textures I found on the ground. My first thought wasn’t anything artsy: “these would look amazing as overlays for my design projects.” Even if so, I had to forget it and focus on the sensation felt from actually touching it.
In the first three photos, I was interested in the change in terrain. from gravel, to sidewalk, to asphalt. When I turned right into North Olive Road, I saw this tree with deep, aged ridges in its bark. It wasn’t until then that I started being drawn to the textures on walls — expanding my frame of perception. Here are photos of the different textures as well as notes on how they felt:
So, there I was at E University Blvd. I was so distracted by touching all these different surfaces that I forgot I still needed to eat breakfast. This was the perfect time to refuel and reset before I explored with the next sense: Sound.
Walk 2
Sound
After breakfast, I went back to where I left off. I should’ve went along the same path, but I got a little distracted — I’ll explain later. Here is the route I took:
It didn’t take long for my mind to focus in on what I could hear around me. Instantly, everything became louder. I was so aware of the sounds of birds, traffic, people talking, and especially my footsteps! I was using the Voice Memo app on my phone to record. So, distance from the source was a big factor— I quickly realized. I had to make sure what I heard could be picked up in the memos. Here are the individual recordings and thoughts I have about them:
Audio Recordings
These were general sounds that I was initially aware of that I wasn’t before. The sounds of nature has a calming affect. I was more observant of birds sitting in trees and wisping past. Sound kind of started to grab my attention and I was leading with that. This is the main reason I didn’t go on a similar path that I went in walk 1.
Places that had a unique sound to them became a magnet to me. I remember turning my head quickly into the direction of the fountain when I heard its rushing water. All I could focus on was the water jets and splashing getting louder and louder.
I noticed an entirely different reverberance of white noise when I came into an indoor area of the Student Union. There were people talking in the background that I could hear clear as day. Unfortunately, my phone is sensitive to white noise so their voices aren’t as prominent as I heard.
Here’s another water fountain. The jets flow smoothly instead of spraying out. The sound of the water hitting the surface is softer than the first one, making it more relaxing to listen to..
There was a lot of construction today, so it's surprising there were even quiet moments like in the other audio recordings.
