LOVE LETTERS

In the city there are hundreds of addresses where famous writers, artists, performers, architects, politicians, scientists and poets have lived. They all loved and wrote letters. Many of these letters have been published and placed in the public domain. The most interesting historical love letters were selected by the project team and voiced by eminent personalities: artists, art historians, producers and other cultural figures. Recorded messages are available to a wide audience in audio format, with links to the addresses from which the letters were once sent. There are two modes available in the performance app: walk mode and remote mode. In the walk mode, audio files with letters will be launched automatically, according to geo-tagged points tied to the houses, following the trajectory of the listener’s movement. In remote mode, users have the option to select the location or letter of interest manually on the project map. The creators of «Love Letters» performance invite citizens to become its co-authors. Everyone has an opportunity to read out and post a letter from their family archives on the project map.

Thus the city map will be updated with more and more letters interlinked in the most unexpected ways, visually illustrating the idea of connectedness of times and «aliveness» of the urban space. The «Love Letters» project is an opportunity not only to see your city from a different perspective, but also to become a part of its history by adding your family’s past to the larger cultural context of the city. The goal of the project is to actualize the cultural heritage of the city (St. Petersburg, then – other cities) and to involve broader audiences of citizens in the actualization process.