Elastic City intends to make its audience active participants in an ongoing poetic exchange with the places we live in and visit.

Artists are commissioned by Elastic City to create their own participatory walks for the public, often using sensory-based techniques, reinvented folk rituals and other exercises to investigate and intervene in the daily life of the city, its variously defined communities, and the politics of individual and group identity.

In 2019, a book detailing artists’ prompts from Elastic City walks along with a guide to create your own participatory walks will be released this summer.

Elastic City is directed by Todd Shalom. He realized the idea while suffering from altitude sickness in Cusco, Peru.

For a complete list of organizational partners and those who have commissioned walks, please click here.

Click here to learn more about who works with the organization; here to read what people think about their experience, here to view an archive of all events, and here to see photos galore.

Finally, please see our FAQ for some practical Q&A.