The Human Tour 2013

 

The Human Tour 2013 suits constructed by Thuy-Linh Cornett and photo by Lillie Monstrum

The Human Tour, 1987 - , by Michael Galbreth

From February 10- March 10, 2013, Carrie Schneider, founder of Hear Our Houston, and Alex Tu, founder of Counter Crawl, walked the route laid out in 1987 in Michael Galbreth's The Human Tour.

Any and all were invited to join, and many did. Thank you, human tourists.

Here is a log of the 10 walk routes, and below are some highlights of our sprawling, unimaginable journey.

The Human Tour 2013 window exhibition at 3617 Main Street, our start and finish line

The Human Tour 2013 in the News

Houston Press 
-Meredith Deliso

Offcite
-Edward S. Garza

Glasstire
-Regina Agu

KPFT Living Art
-Michael Woodson (Feb 14)

Contemporary Performance
-Emily Sloan 

CARB_LOAD_BRUNCH_LAUNCH with Michael Galbreth at Natachee's, 12pm February 10, 2013

 Art Attack
-Abby Koenig 

 

Walk Five was my personal favorite. We took off at 6am through a bird hurricane, a cowboy macdonalds, neighborhoods coming to life, factories getting to work, horses in the yards, tangled nature under a constant drizzle, stray dog groupies, and finally an eerily manicured subdivision- it was like we never woke up from dreaming.

Click above to hear the playlist created for our sixth walk through the Third Ward by DJ, ethnomusicologist, and photographer Flash Gordon Parks. In addition to reminding us that everything is better with music, Walk Six also ended at our half way mark (and a coincedental Chinese New Year celebration and Sparkle's milkshake). Along the way we made friends with firemen, did a lot of dancing in the streets, and had the pleasure of traveling faster on foot than the cars stuck on 45. It also marked the start of the drop-in trend described below.

Walk Eight was the (delicious) Bermuda triangle, with a false start at the wrong direction and renamed streets, a circle back around to catch latecomers, and a blustering wind throughout. We got lost, lost people and had whole peripheral groups that I didn't even know were with us. No half mile was comprised of the same caravan as the last. Temporary tourists, bike trios, and mirages overshot, undershot, and intersected our pathways- but most of all made their own ways. The evidence reported back were bags full of nectar six hours later, a brisk ten mile duet, and dozens of glances over our shoulders wondering at the changing characters in this vicinity's dream sequence. Even though most of you evaporated between the nopales & the 77, thank you for weaving in and for spawning your own sects.

A big thanks to all you human tourists for co-walking your way into our polyester-clad hearts. We love having you along for the journey! Our arrival party Sunday, March 10th, 2013 at Natachee's on Main Street. Image based on "Wild in the Streets" by Alex Tu

 

video screening and ceremony to transfer the suits from function cover to art object artifacts

After the project has officially ended, The Human Tour 2013 continues to spawn other walking endeavors around the city, including HTX Walk Social:

hidden eden photo by Jet Liam & astrodome spelunking photo by Carrie Schneider. Walks are ongoing and hosted by volunteers.

The Human Tour 2012 photo by Lillie Monstrum

The Human Tour 2013 is presented by Hear Our Houston, a hub of public generated audio walking tours that celebrate the commons in a city where walking is a radical act. All sorts of folks from different neighborhoods take a walk while recording their own audio tour, featured on HearOurHouston.com for free.

The Human Tour 2013 received support through an individual artist grant awarded to Carrie Schneider