When you are starting away, leaving your more familiar fields, for a little adventure like a walk, you look at every object with a traveler’s, or at least with historical, eyes; you pause on the first bridge, where an ordinary walk hardly commences, and begin to observe and moralize like a traveler. It is worth the while to see your native village thus sometimes, as if you were a traveler passing through it, commenting on your neighbors as strangers.
― Henry David Thoreau, Journal (4 September 1851)
Henry David Thoreau, the naturalist, philosopher, and American author of such classics as Walden and “Civil Disobedience” was famously known for embarking on wandering adventures in the wilderness. This quote portrays his curious and open personality to look at others and the environment with fresh eyes.
Like a traveler who doesn’t give anything for granted.
It doesn’t matter if you pass by that street every day or encounter the same people each morning. If you feel bored or disconnected from your surroundings, it’s because you’re not paying attention.
We want to provoke you to approach your surroundings with the perspective and stories of others. The ones you find each day in your life. Here are two ideas to be creative and adventurous.
Create a collective idea
This game was proposed by Fluxus member Milan Knížák in 1978.
“To create an idea collectively, a group of people might all think about one specific, fixed thing, either separately or in a group. Such a thing can be the warmth of the sun, the note C, a black cloud, or a handshake, among many other objects. Later on, each member of the group will share their results with the rest”.
Source: Invitación al Tiempo Explosivo: Manual de Juegos written by Julián Lacalle and Julio Monteverde, published by Editorial Sexto Piso in Mexico (2018).
Memory archive
Libraries (as well as some social collectives) work with the initiative of preserving the memories of a community or a group of people to give a new voice to their stories, which are fading with time.
You can become a collector of the stories of any group that you’re interested in. You can grab anything: sounds, voice notes, stories, photos (all of these, of course, with the consent of all involved).
You can invite people out on a walk through nature and talk. You can all also take another walk right after, this time alone. That will allow your heart and your brain to process the whole experience.
--
We at LUAN want you to get lost and discover new stories. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered: our Wonder & Wander Toolkit will provide the basics for you to start wondering and wandering: ideas, exercises, and poems are only some of the tips you will find to inspire you.
--
Photo by: Thom Holmes @thomholmes
