Inspired by the Life on Land exhibition, Listening to the Land is a series of artist-led encounters that extend the themes of Life on Land through embodied engagement with sound and place. Designed as a set of experiential programs, the series invites participants to attune to landscape through listening, movement, and shared observation.

This series concludes with Walking the Water, a guided listening walk with land artist and environmentalist Karen McCoy to expanded ways of understanding landscape as something heard, felt, and experienced over time.

For Walking the Water, participants will gather and walk together with McCoy while carrying a paper or hand-carved wood listening/sighting horn and a viewing lens provided by the artist. We will explore the site beginning on the campus of the Kansas City Art Institute, into and through Southmoreland Park and Theis Park to conclude with a streetcar ride back.

We will walk a new way by employing our senses, particularly our observational and aural facilities, in an acute and unusual manner, such that we will newly discover new aspects of the cityscape. Walking together in this way is an act overlaid with many intentions which will unfold as we traverse the landscape. Participants will each be part of a "situational sculpture" consisting of a dispersed experience. This calls upon each person experiencing it to remember and mentally assemble all the parts in order to experience the whole.

This program is open to all experience levels. Bring a backpack, sketchbook, and favorite drawing materials if you have them. Wear sturdy walking shoes, long pants, long socks, hat, sunscreen, and bug spray, if needed. Please bring a full reusable water bottle.

We will meet in the Artspace parking lot before departing on our listening walk. This program is free and open to up to 35 participations with an rsvp.

RSVP: Space is limited, and on a first come, first serve basis, so reserve your spot through Eventbrite. Email artspace@kcai.edu, or call 816-802-3571 for directions and questions.

LOCATION: 16 East 43rd Street, Kansas City, MO 64111, at the intersection of 43rd and Walnut Streets. The walk will include the KCAI main campus, Southmoreland Park, Theis Park, and portions of the The Arterie experiential walkway that connects KCAI, Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.

WALK DIFFICULTY: 1.4 miles round trip, easy to moderate elevation changes along paths.

Programs may be subject to change. For the latest information, including other rsvp sign-up opportunities and workshop details and locations, contact the Emily & Todd Voth Artspace directly. Follow us on Instagram @artspace_kcai and Facebook https://www.facebook.com/artspacekcai, or visit www.kcai.edu/artspace, to receive the most up-to-date information about these programs.