The Bad Feng Shui Project: A to Z
The Bad Feng Shui Project is a self-guided walking tour of all the houses with bad feng shui in the Trinity Bellwoods neighbourhood in Toronto. It relies on the map as a guide for a durational experience of the city, drawing attention to specific houses within the context of the heterogeneous urban fabric that connects them. Participants are invited to use the map to navigate the three-dimensional space of the city, and by walking they are able to investigate and activate the urban landscape in its existing form.
The impetus behind The Bad Feng Shui Project is rooted in my own psychogeographic experiences and walking as a method for investigating the urban landscape. On one level, this project aims to incrementally alter or recalibrate our perceptions and interactions with the city. On another, it seeks to reformulate the exhibition as something that is transitory and contingent on those who participate in or perform the walk.
* Download or view a PDF of this project [ link to PDF (1.8MB) ].
* Read the catalogue essay for this project [ forthcoming PDF ]
* Share your explorations, observations, deviations and detours in the comment section below.
* Submit your postal address through the CONTACT page and this postcard will be mailed to you.
The Bad Feng Shui Project: A to Z, 2010, 8 x 6" folded postcard [cover and inset]
Photo by Christine Lim Photography
TAKE THIS TOUR!
Saturday, April 24, 2010 at
XPACE Cultural Centre
58 Ossington Ave, Toronto
2 to 7 PM (RAIN OR SHINE)
This project is comprised of two self-guided tours and a one-day installation that maps movement through time and the city. Come to XPACE to pick your maps at 2pm and return to the gallery for a reception from 5 to 7pm.
See the NEWS page for more info, or visit www.xpace.info.
Comments
It was a different experience to be seeking something out, to have some sort of organization/directive on how to look around. Instead of noticing things you are predisposed to, you notice things you otherwise would not. This is extremely simple but also important, we should tell each other what good to look at more often.
The walk was the perfect way for us (who are moving out of the Ossington neightborhood) to say goodbye. It allowed us, at our own pace, to explore all the little streets we'd never had a reason to walk down before. It was a wonderful experience, and it felt like we were "saying goodbye" to each of the streets and alleys individually.
At the beginning of the walk, we spent some time getting our bearings and finding the right houses to look at. We spent more time at the beginning reflecting and commenting to each other about how the energy of the house really did seem to pour out onto the street. But by the end of the walk, we could spot the bad feng shui houses from blocks away and didn't feel the need to chat about it anymore. We just seemed to have accepted it. Probably the way your parents feel when they see one - "ah, just another house with bad feng shui".
We also enjoyed exploring and taking the time to look and experience at each street's personality. Some with big, grand houses with so much stature and history. Others with tiny, more worn but just as lovely homes.
Finally, we also loved the fact that the walk allowed us to stop at The Fish Store on College (which we'd always wanted to go to but never had the right occasion) and finish off our "mid-day snack" with gelato. Delicious! If we'd had room, we also would have gotten ourselves a California sandwich as well...
Thank you for allowing us to explore and enjoy and educate ourselves through your art :)
-a&j
I really enjoyed the walk. I struggle with living in the moment on a day to day basis. Though I walk around the city a lot, I often get lost in my thoughts and ignore all around me, much to my dismay. For the longest time I thought there was no trees, no greenery, no nature in Toronto. Then one day a week or two ago, I looked up. And I was completely shocked to see the sky covered in tree tops! Proving to myself that I had blocked out entire species of biota from my awareness.
I appreciate your projects, which invite me to notice my surroundings and think about them. Reading your materials at the reception last Saturday was interesting and inspiring. I am inspired to take the experience I obtained during the Bad Feng Shui walk of heightened awareness and carry it forward into my future walks throughout Toronto and everywhere else. I find there is such a richness and reward to living in the present and interacting with our environment, even if it's in a passive way of just noticing it and paying it mind.
Thank you for sharing your ideas and projects with me/everyone.
Miriam
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