Human / Non-Human Subjects

We normally receive the city and the parks within it as constructed for human activity.  While we may be pre-occupied with our selves, there are an abundance of non-human beings superimposed and adjacent.  These non-human subjects interpret the same spaces differently.   This drawing process explores the superimposition of significance, effect space, perception and activity in the parks.

Instructions
Tracing over an aerial or plan of en existing park, imagine all the spaces and modes of inhabitation for a specific being.

It might be helpful to start with a non-human being for which you have some familiarity - for example, a dog.    Trace areas on the map that would support this creature’s activity.  Replace the presupposed activities or names for spaces on the plan, with a list of th eactual activities that a creature would perform there.

Once you’ve exhausted every possible space for that particular creature, save this drawing as a layer, and move to another.

Complete as many layers as you can,  You might collaborate with a colleague to exhaust every possibility you can imagine: toddler, child, teenager, adult, senior, dog, bird, fish, racoon, turtle, fox, beaver, etc.

Possible Tools:

Black technical pens on paper.
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Nodebox

Relevant Texts:

Donna Haraway, Companion Species Manifesto: Dogs, People, and Sigificant Otherness.

Jacob Von Uexkell, A Foray through the World of Humans and Animals.

Other Inspiration:

Quentin Deluermoz, Writing history with Animals  (link)

ChicagoParks to Reference:

Use any park as a constraint or reference, exhausting each environment.  (link)