CAIRNS
Cairns is a soundwalk for Green-Wood Cemetery that leads the listener on a solitary poetic journey. Written and narrated by HARP Artist Gelsey Bell with music by Bell and composer Joseph White, Cairns is being created for the social-distancing New Yorker to meditate on the land we inhabit, sink into an arboreal temporality, and unearth the stories of a few historic trailblazers.
You can download these tracks on a mobile device and do the walk in-person or simply listen at home and let the audio transport you there.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR IN-PERSON EXPERIENCES:
The walk starts from Green-Wood’s Sunset Park Entrance at 4th Ave. and 35th St. This is not the Main Entrance (which is at 5th Ave. and 25th St.)! You can start the audio for the walk anytime after entering the gate. Feel free to start it by the bike rack/guard station, or after using the bathroom nearby.
The walk itself is a little over an hour, though you may decide to pause the audio at times and spend more time in certain locations. The walk also ends in a different place than it began, so it will take you at least an additional 15 minutes to walk back to the entrance.
We suggest bringing a bottle of water and maybe a snack (though there is no picnicking at GW). Also wear sturdy walking shoes. The walk covers a bit of ground and moves at a healthy clip.
Green-Wood’s hours change seasonally. Please check www.green-wood.com for when it is open.
Make sure you have downloaded the tracks to your mobile device and are using headphones. You can download the free Bandcamp App to load the album on your mobile device. (You may lose reception in the middle of the walk so we don’t recommend trying to stream it.)
On September 25, 2020 HARP artist Gelsey Bell and composer Joseph White were live with HERE’s Founding Artist Director Kristin Marting for a Cairns Q&A via Facebook Live.
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Gelsey Bell
Purchase the album to download the audio tracks: https://gelseybell.bandcamp.com/album/cairns
Gelsey Bell is a singer, songwriter, and scholar. She has released multiple recordings, is a current HARP Artist at HERE Arts Center, and has received a Foundation for Contemporary Arts award. She is a member of thingNY, Varispeed, and the Chutneys. Performance highlights include Dave Malloy’s Natasha, Pierre, & the Great Comet of 1812 (Broadway) and Ghost Quartet, and Robert Ashley’s Improvement. www.gelseybell.com
Joseph White is a composer, lyricist and performer working in music and theatre. Recent work includes The Wagging Craze (Ars Nova’s ANTFest, Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival, upcoming at Prague Fringe), and feminine octagon (LPAC Rough Draft). He also composed for, and music-directed, Agnes Borinsky’s Of Government (Clubbed Thumb Summerfest), Ding Dong: It’s the Ocean (JACK/HERE – HARP). www.joewhitenoise.com
Commissioned by HERE
Presented in partnership with Green-Wood Cemetery
Additional funding from the Foundation for Contemporary Arts
Recorded at Green-Wood Cemetery and the Bell-White home in Brooklyn, NY.
Mastered by Ithaca.
Special thanks to: Kristin Marting, Ross Karre, Ximena Garnica, Shige Moriya, Abigail Levine, Aaron Siegel, Zoe Singer, Harry Weil, Jeff Richman, Sara Evans, Joseph Charap, Miguel Frasconi, Erin Rogers, Alejandro Acierto, and Dave Malloy.
HERE pays respect to the Lenape ancestors past, present, and future. We acknowledge that CAIRNS is situated on Lenape homeland.
Check out what folks have to say about Carins! Tag your experience #CairnsNYC to be featured.