lockdown walk

ABOUT

The audio project Lockdown Walk is a 24-hour curation of sounds recorded during the initial months of the Covid-19 pandemic, as a way to document the walks many of us were taking in order to make essential trips, exercise, or just go outside. Those for whom walking had become more difficult documented the experience of being confined to their homes.

The project was initiated by five students of the School of Arts Ghent: Emma Ervynck (Belgium), Wouter Op de Beeck (Belgium), Qurratul Ain Saeed (Pakistan), Sofiia Shin (Russia) and Joan Somers Donnelly (Ireland). The walk does not move evenly across the world. There are many regions it does not pass through, while a lot of ground is covered in certain areas. These clusters represent not only the countries we are from and where we live, but also trace diaspora and migration patterns of our friends and family.

“Many people nowadays live in a series of interiors... disconnected from each other. On foot everything stays connected, for while walking one occupies the spaces between those interiors in the same way one occupies those interiors. One lives in the whole world rather than in interiors built up against it.” - Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking

PEOPLE

In Lockdown Walk we hear footsteps in different terrains. We hear different languages, conversations, birds and animals. We journey through different weather and times of day, through thoughts and through silences, with these people:

Azlan, Joan, Anne, Svetlana, Fedor, Charlotte, Toma, Josse, Noah, Mariam, Muzaffar, Joran, Koenraad, Louis, Milena, Sebastian, Flora, Xenia, Sofiia, Emma, Aisha, Catherine, Stefi, Mark, Rosemarie, Statia, Eszter, Rimsha, Isacco, Rudi, Winnie, Zehra, Mathias, Maria, Kirill, Tatyana, Marvi, Saadia, Warsha, Katarina, Tabinda, Tooba, Wouter, Nimra, Violetta, Evgenii, Merylin, Anton, Bram, Ingrid, Azer, Katrine, Stefa, Miguel, Joe, Ellen, Venetia, Tom, Luisa, Giovanni, Suha, Maha, Esteban, Bas, Sara, Marina, Vera, Dirk, Stefania, Boris, Huzefah, Durre, Shehliza, Gergana, Niamh, Shahar, Lorenzo Charee, Faiza, Romy, Qurratul Ain, Mahak, Filip, Amèlie, Sophia, Tahira, Nouch, Taimur, Cormac, Bernie, Luka, An, Maxim, Natalia, Ivan, Genadii, Alevtina, Stefaan, Mavis, Laura, Artur, Alexander

Many thanks to all of our contributors for sharing their walks, and to Catherine Willems for mentoring us during this research project.

THE PLACES

Ghent, Leeds, Dublin, Meldert, Sydney, Drongen, Islamabad, Geel, Leuven, Milan, Liège, Hoegaarden, Rosslare, Brussels, Brasilia, Brooklyn, Obninsk, Antwerp, Geneva, Tula, Glenmalure, Washington, Hanoi, Tallow, Voronez, Karachi, Korsele, South Uist, Tarbela, Berlin, Meløse, Athens, Mindo, Madrid, Maella, Cork, Den Haag, Manhattan, Camp, Lafayette, Bali, Padua, Denver, Arignano, Amsterdam, Bergen op Zoom, Paris, Heverlee, Dubai, Diest, Hasselt, Naples, Ieper, Oslo, Chemor, Moscow, Maslovo, London, Lake Tahoe, Tallinn, Redwood City