I started the audio walk around 11:45am.
The sounds from the real world blended with the audio from my headphones, creating a surreal state of both past and present. I wandered through Central Park in another realm. It was isolating.
And it was spooky as hell. I wouldn’t know whether the sounds came from my phone or the world. I would hear kids running and playing, look around, and see no kids. Ghost kids?...
And then there’d be moments when Cardiff would narrate EXACTLY what was going around. She literally narrated “a woman is taking a photograph,” and ten feet to my left I’d see a woman taking a goddamn photograph! I looked around and imagined Cardiff surveilling me from afar.
Events like these happened throughout the walk. I was there, and then I wasn’t.
When I reached the clock tower in the zoo, I heard a bell. I assumed it was from the audio, until I realized that it wasn’t. It just so happened to be noon time and the clock bell rang and rang. To make sure, I cheated and removed my headphones, leaving Cardiff’s past. The noise of the present was quieter, with only the bell ringing in the background.
I put my headphones back on, hearing again those ghostly children laughing along with that clock tower bell. The music of the past is discordant with that of the present, yet we can’t help but to look backwards and find those brief moments of harmony.
Thanks to Danni H. for accompanying me and helping me with these pictures!