About

“And I hear, from your voice, the invisible reasons which make cities live, through which perhaps, once dead, they will come to life again.”
                                        —Italo Calvino, Invisible Cities

In Italo Calvino’s novel Invisible Cities, explorer Marco Polo describes incredible urban landscapes to the aging Kublai Khan. Unlike the other ambassadors and tax-collectors who deliver facts of historical and economical importance, Polo tells fantastic stories. Stories that, though surreal, explore the true essence of each city and the underlying patterns that connect them all. A popular interpretation of the text offers that the 55 stories are 55 ways to see a single city.

Invisible City Audio Tours aims to do the same by providing alternative ways to experience urban landscapes, offering transgressive, surreal, even mystical perspectives. Each audio walking tour will guide travelers through neighborhoods---both well-traveled and well-hidden---using original works of literary fiction, poetry, creative non-fiction, visual art, sound, and music. The tour guides: local emergent curators, editors, composers, authors, journalists, performers, designers, and artists.

Once produced, each tour will be available as a free downloadable MP3 featuring original music and writing in response to landmarks along the route. Along with the audio, the tours will exhibit temporary, semi-temporary, and permanent visual art installations.

The inaugural tour, Heliography, will launch on September 3, 2010, and will guide travelers from the MacArthur BART Station along Telegraph Avenue to Keys That Fit (2312 Telegraph Avenue) in Oakland, California. Learn more about this tour and upcoming tours here.