Experimental Dog Walk
Experimental Dog Walk
22.06.2025
Walk 1: 11:00 – 13:00
Walk 2: 16:00 – 18:00
iii workplace, The Hague
Spatial Exploration through Other Than Human Perspectives!
This workshop invites participants on a guided dog walk to engage with their environment in new
and unexpected ways. Alexander Johannes Heil developed this cultural-scientific and aesthetic practice based on Lucius Burckhardt’s Strollology and added a non-human dimension to this concept. Drawing from the fact that dogs perceive their environment differently than humans, the workshop poses the
question: Can the knowledge of other than human sensory systems heighten our awareness of the environment around us?
What Participants Will Learn:
• – To heighten their sensory awareness and experience of spaces through alternative perspectives.
• – To use their imagination to acknowledge and navigate parallel spatial realities.
• – To explore how sensory focus can deepen connections with their spatial environment and its multi-species inhabitants.
Starting at the iii Workspace, participants will learn about three canine senses —sight, smell, and hearing— and choose one to focus on during the workshop. The group then will embark on a guided walk silently following Bruce, a kind dog serving as the workshop’s guide and inspiration. By observing Bruce’s movements and imaginatively interpreting the sensory stimuli he might notice, participants will engage deeply with the surroundings.
Following the walk, participants will gather to discuss their observations. This dialogue will allow reflections on the diverse voices encountered, from human to animal, mechanical to natural, and will encourage participants to share insights about the unseen and unheard dynamics of the experienced spaces.
Workshop Structure
Introduction:
– Welcome at iii workspace
– Brief introduction to the workshop objectives and methodology.
– Overview of three canine senses (sight, smell, hearing).
– Participants choose one sense to focus on during the walk.
Guided Sensory Walk:
– Silent exploration of the location’s surroundings, guided by Bruce, the dog.
– Participants focus on their chosen sense, inspired by Bruce’s movements and responses to the environmental inputs.
– Observation of how this shift of focus influences their sensory perception.
Discussion Circle (30 min.):
– Return to iii workplace to grab a drink and exchange experiences and reflections on the walk.
– Attempt/Experiment to quantify these qualitative insights developing a structured perspective on the participants’ observations.
Participant Requirements:
– Comfortable walking shoes and weather-appropriate clothing.
– A small notebook and pen for jotting down observations (optional).
– No prior knowledge of sensory ecology is required—curiosity and openness to new perspectives are sufficient.
– Literature (optional and provided separately):
‘Strollology. A Minor Subject. In Conversation with Hans Ulrich Obrist’ in Burckhardt, Lucius: Why is Landscape Beautiful?, The Science of Strollology, Birkhäuser 2015.
About the Facilitator:
Alexander Johannes Heil (*1986 in Hamburg) is a German conceptual artist with a background in architecture (B.Sc.) and ArtScience (M.Mus.). He explores the phenomenology and poetics of natural and architectural spaces through various media and aesthetic practices, aiming to establish alternative relationships with them and reconfigure our perception of the environment.
Co-guide:
Bruce (*2018 somewhere on Gran Canaria) is an experienced Spanish canine explorer. In his free time he collects blankets, likes to run, read tracks, sun gaze, chew on things, graze, and sleep. He loves most humans and some dogs. Cats drive him up the wall. Bruce lives with his human Alexander in Hamburg, Germany.
