Take a stroll with Kindness of Jazz: Mackay Soundwalk, a sound walk launched in the historic New Edinburgh neighbourhood of Ottawa, Canada, in December 2020, at the height of the pandemic. Kindness of Jazz is an evolving album of music and spoken word – spatialized elit placed at select locations mapped throughout the neighbourhood. The nodes of creativity are all accessible via the SonicMaps player. With just earbuds and a phone, the experience begins in front of MacKay United Church. Press Play and start the journey, either towards historic Sussex Drive (and the home of Canada’s Prime Minister) or Stanley Park. Acoustic music and original and borrowed spoken word (including reflective words and poetry quoted from Rumi and Hafiz), much of it recorded inside the church sanctuary, accompanies the audience as they find their way, mobilizing the unique affordance of spatialized electronic literature to turn the church inside out for a time when gathering indoors was impossible. For ELO2022 we offer a selection of nodes available to experience via web browser, with an on screen avatar walking a map of the streets.

Tony Vieira is an educator, media artist, future storyteller, musician and composer who creates immersive visual and sonic experiences for XR. His work for film, television, VR cinema, orchestral performance, location-area media, and AR has been screened, broadcast, performed, and exhibited internationally. Tony Vieira earned his PhD from York University.

Peter Woods
Spiritually grounded in the arts, I am an ordained minister in the United Church of Canada and a professional saxophone player. I thrive at the crossroads of innovation and tradition.

Immersive Storytelling Lab, York University and the United Church of Canada

tonyelo2016@gmail.com

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