‘200 Acres’ Walking Tour App Offers Fresh Perspective on Penn State’s Original Land and School History

UNIVERSITY PARK — A new walking tour app will test users’ knowledge of Penn State by providing fresh perspectives on the university’s original land, history and purpose. The free site-specific walk “through memories of wildness” is a creative partnership between the Center for the Performing Arts and theater artist Marike Splint.

200 Acres, which refers to the tract of land that Penn State first occupied, is a sequel to Splint’s 32 Acres, a similar project highlighting a plot of green space in Los Angeles. The local app’s self-guided one-mile tour leads the user on an introspective, prompted walk along an accessible route, leaving from the patio of Eisenhower Auditorium and ending at The Arboretum at Penn State.

“200 Acres is an immersive and site-specific sound experience … about how we shape nature and how nature shapes us,” Splint said during a spring residency visit to campus.

Visit 200 Acres online to download the app and for more information.

Splint’s commentary about buildings along the path and the campus land’s past is richly narrated, “layered with disarming metaphors, historical details and personal musings.”

Her directions lead users past historic architecture, share rich histories of some species of trees, reflect on family togetherness, and muse on the Penn State milking barns and mountain views.

The 200 Acres app, which is part of “The Reflection Project” funded by the Mellon Foundation, is available for iPhone and Android smartphones. The website includes app information and download instructions. Accessible versions of the content are available upon request.

‘You are the theater’

Splint is a Dutch French-Tunisian artist and an associate professor in the theater department at the University of California, Los Angeles. She specializes in creating works in public spaces that explore the relationship between people, places and identity.

200 Acres is a solo experience because the user wears headphones connected to the app on one’s smartphone. Each person will help to guide their own tour, as the user’s location and movements will conjure the sound and text being heard.

“You are the theater, you are the art, you make the experience,” Splint said.

Read a Center for the Performing Arts interview with the artist.

Penn State student’s ‘fortunate coincidence’

Incoming Penn State senior and math major Jonathan Massey said his professional involvement in creating the 200 Acres app was the perfect opportunity to exercise his analytical side in tandem with his creative side.

He said the app’s use of geolocation software drew him to the project, more specifically “the possibilities of joining theater with game development.”

Read a Center for the Performing Arts interview with Massey.