HERE Presents World Premiere of THE VISITATION, Haunting Sound Walk in Jackie Robinson Park

HERE will present the world premiere of The Visitation, a sound walk, a haunting site-specific experience created by Stephanie Fleischmann, Christina Campanella, and Mallory Catlett. Inspired by the appearance of a one-antlered deer in Harlem in 2016, The Visitation takes the listener on an urban odyssey in search of the collective memory of the deer's sojourn in Jackie Robinson Park via geo-located avant-pop songs that conjure a series of encounters with the buck. Launching on April 23, The Visitation is a meditation on the presence of the mythic in the everyday and the uneasy relationship between the built environment and the natural world. The sound walk marks the first collaboration between Campanella, Catlett, and Fleischmann since their production of Red Fly/Blue Bottle.

Conceived and developed with director Catlett and featuring original music and sound design by Campanella and text by Fleischmann, the soundscape of The Visitation is threaded through with the ethereal sounds of the deer, voiced by Obie-winning legend Black-Eyed Susan, a founding member of Charles Ludlam's Ridiculous Theatrical Company. Listeners simultaneously traverse interior landscapes and exterior terrain ranging from far-reaching urban vistas to a dense canopy of trees, from the former wilderness of the park to the blacktop of basketball courts and playgrounds.

Geo-located songs conjure moments experienced by a handful of characters-including a park gardener, a weeping pharmacist, a neighborhood teenager, and more-whose lives were changed by their encounter with the deer. The stellar roster of singers and musicians include Campanella, Abraham Gomez-Delgado, Carl Hancock Rux, Callie Katrice Holley, John-Andrew Morrison, Mia Pixley, Jude Shimer, and Mark Spencer.

Along the way, participants will also encounter Mesingw, a Lenape spirit associated with the deer, who could, it was believed, reinstate balance to a disease-inflicted earth. Listeners may ask themselves, "Where is Mesingw now? How do we navigate his absence, and that of Artemis, Greek goddess of nature, from our contemporary lives? What are the repercussions of the ways we continue to colonize the land on which we live?"

A visceral sonic journey through our longing for the solace of the wild, The Visitation charts the histories and hauntings of a particular urban geography and its evolution from Lenape terrain to colonized farmland to vital urban resource.

The team for The Visitation also includes Lenape historical consultant Oleana Whispering Dove.

Participants must download the Gesso app onto their mobile device to experience The Visitation, which begins a few blocks from Jackie Robinson Park, at West 148th Street and St Nicholas Avenue. The geography of the park includes stairs and some uneven terrain. A map with alternate start and end points is available for individuals with limited mobility. Participants should bring their own headphones. The Visitation can also be experienced remotely via the Gesso app as a 60-minute soundscape.

The Visitation launches on April 23, 202, and is free to download, however, donations at www.here.org are encouraged.

On Saturday, May 1, the creators from The Visitation and the founders of Gesso will host an in-person gathering in Jackie Robinson Park to discuss the inspiration, artistry, and technology behind the sound walk.

The Visitation is supported, in part, by the Café Royal Cultural Foundation.

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