Review in La Libération here.

Interview with Patrick Jézéquel of ResMusica in English here.

From September 10th through October 3rd, 2019, Craig Shepard lead groups of two to twelve people on walks between three and twelve hours beginning and ending at the Laboratoires d’Aubervilliers. Shorter walks covered the immediate neighborhood. Longer walks explored the connections between Aubervilliers and adjoining neighborhoods.

At the middle of each walk, the group stopped, stood in a circle and listened to ambient sounds of the site while Shepard made a field recording. All slight motions, including rustling clothes and little coughs were picked up by the microphones; each participant’s stillness became their performance.

Each walk completed at the Laboratoires, where field recordings made that day were played back in the gallery space.

When a group commits to walk in silence, they create a bubble of stillness which moves with them through the city. The commitment creates a transient community—a way of being together. Within this silence, participants have the opportunity to enter into a new experience with their surroundings—often spaces they pass through every day. Each person’s experience is individual, happening simultaneously with that of the other members of the group. Past participants have reported that during the walks, they noticed sounds they had ignored as well as a real connection with their fellow walkers.

Presented by Festival d'Automne and Les Laboratoires d'Aubervilliers