Barefoot psychogeography

Another day on the Island. From the Ward's Island ferry landing, I made my way to St. Andrew-by-the-Lake Church, where Hilary was helping set up the Sound Travels installation. I put up some signs outside the church and listened awhile to the murmur of secrets from Lori Beckstead and David Rose's "The Whispering Tree," but did not tell it any secrets of my own.



From there I walked to Hanlan's Point, took my sandals off and picked my way across the hot sand, through the throngs of people, till I found an encampment of psychogeographers, lounging under rented beach umbrellas. "We were just thinking of going for a walk," said Shawn, "want to come?"



We set off down the shoreline, clad only in our swimwear. Shawn wanted to show us a firepit he knew of, surrounded by rocks, which last year had been only a stretch of beach away. So much of the beach has eroded recently, however, that we had to climb up from the rocky shore and take a detour across the grass. We did make it to the firepit, and back.

Some of us plunged into the lake for a cheerfully inept round of water frisbee. The boats that Shawn was complaining about on Spacing last week were back in full force, about a dozen of them anchored right up in the swimming area, pumping out loud music. One big yacht in particular had three large stereo speakers on top of it, pointed at the beach and blaring deafening techno. Shawn waded out to it and yelled at its passengers, "PLEASE TURN DOWN YOUR MUSIC. EVERYONE ON THE BEACH HATES YOU AND THINKS YOU ARE ASSHOLES," and they actually turned the music down, and Shawn came back looking immensely pleased with himself.

The Sound Travels festival is next weekend on the Island -- August 10-12. Go for the installations, soundwalks, etc., then head over to Hanlan's Point for a swim! More photos from Sunday here.