Fastest Guided Tours of Unfamiliar Places
2004 - ongoing
I organize and lead running tours of places that are unfamiliar to me. At first they seem to follow the short tours described in Eyewitness guides, or local tourist brochures, but they soon change pace and direction. The tours are designed to break through the authoritarian voice of a well-informed tour guide and create a space where the participants are inspired to contribute their special knowledge of the sites.
People who take such a tour quickly realize that they know as much about the place - if not more - than the tour leader. Sometimes these events end up being tours of the relationships formed among participants during the short time of the tour.
Locations: Vilnius (2004), Ohio (2005), Dubai (2010)
Fastest Guided Tours of Unfamiliar Places: Old Vilnius, Lithuania
2004
Commissioned by Contemporary Art Center (CAC), Vilnius, as part of the exhibition 24/7
Curated by Kestutis Kuizinas and Raimundas Malasauskas
Action:
Run through 700 years of history in 35 minutes without missing an important moment or a major site.
This running tour offered an accelerated (and abridged) experience of the old town, aiming to follow the flow of history, while escaping the unnecessary accumulation of overwhelmingly exhausting facts. Participants were invited to discover the unspoiled beauty and hidden courtyards of one of Europe’s best-kept secrets, with plenty of pauses to contemplate.
Fastest Guided Tours of Unfamiliar Places: ART Dubai
2010
Commissioned by Bidoun Magazine
Curated by Babak Radboy
Action:
Run in 35 minutes through 10,000 square meters of creative production on display, without missing a signi cant gallery or work of art.
In this running tour participants were introduced to selected highlights from the galleries and artworks on display at ART Dubai 2010, including the centrally-located Van Cleef & Arpels High Jewelry pavilion.
Fastest Guided Tours of Unfamiliar Places: Yellow Springs, Ohio
2005
Commissioned by Antioch College for the exhibition Reverse Engineers
Curated by Julia Dzwonkoski.
Action:
Run in 35 minutes through pockets of unusual, and not always strictly local, history without missing an important site
Highlights of this accelerated viewing included: a secret compartment in the floor of a flower shop that served as a stop on the Underground Railroad, a defunct amphitheater hidden in The Glen, a penguin mural created by a Yellow Springs’ high school student in the 1970s, and the grave of Benjamin Rexford Hudson (1920-1996) - devoted husband and father, magician, hydro-geologist, world traveler and builder of homes.
