DISSONANT CITY

DISSONANT CITY:
A PSYCHOGEOGRAPHIES PROJECT

October 2022 – July 2023
A seven-chapter, season-long experience across multiple locations in Washington DC

Created by Kylos Brannon, Adam Ferguson, Jenny McConnell Frederick, Navi, and Jonelle Walker

“Rorschach Theatre excites the mind and ignites curiosity with unique storylines incorporating the fascinatingly rich history of DC.”
— DC Metro Theatre Arts (about last year’s Psychogeographies Project, Chemical Exile)

Beyond the bureaucracy and marble columns, there’s a steady beat that drives the Nation’s Capital. Dive into more than a century of DC music and find out just what it means to be immortal in Rorschach’s latest groundbreaking event.

A Psychogeographies project, DISSONANT CITY harnesses the power of both the built and natural world to create a visceral piece of immersive storytelling. Each month participants receive a map and instructions to travel to a new curated location in the DC area. Along with the map, they’ll receive a box of artifacts to engage all five senses while exploring each site with story elements such as letters, music, souvenirs, or photos.

From October through May, each monthly box reveals a new location and a new chapter in the ongoing story. This psychogeographic adventure culminates with the live performance of  ANGEL NUMBER NINE in the summer of 2023.

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What is PSYCHOGEOGRAPHIES?

Hundreds of DC-Area audiences joined us for Rorschach’s first two Psychogeographies projects, described by the The Washington Post: “[a] season-long immersive experience, DISTANCE FREQUENCIES sends audiences on monthly excursions to lesser-traveled Washington-area sites, where landscapes — together with the contents of curated mailed packages — help conjure a mysterious overarching story that is partly set in those locations.”

DC Metro Theatre Arts said about the project, “Rorschach Theatre’s current production is…an adventure of the mind and, if you wish, the body… The innovative form of art incorporates literature, music, mystery, romance, and DC’s highlights and history, all steeped in a hope for a better world… Rorschach Theatre has hit the jackpot with this innovative form of art, incorporating literature, music, mystery, romance, and DC’s highlights and history, all steeped in a hope for a better world.”

“Psychogeography” is a term coined by philosopher Guy Debord in the 1950s and refers to the intersection of psychology and geography. Our own psychological experiences of a city reveal hidden places – forgotten, discarded, or marginalized aspects of an urban environment. Locations have a history, a soul, a meaning beyond the dirt and bricks that surround it. These meanings range from the historical to the aesthetic to the personal, but all of these things give the space its resonance.

Safety Considerations: Participants are required to follow local and private business mask requirements where applicable. Rorschach strongly recommends all participants be vaccinated against covid 19. 

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ABOUT THE PROJECT