Walter Kitundu is a multimedia artist and MacArthur Fellow whose practice ranges from building instruments to photographing wildlife. His original musical instruments navigate the boundary between live and recorded performance. He has also made hand-built turntables that interact with the wind and rain, fire and earthquakes, birds, light, and the force of ocean waves. An internationally recognized artist, his work has been exhibited and performed at the Singapore Science Centre, the Gunnar Gunnarsson Institute, Iceland; the Walker Art Center, the Museum of Craft and Folk Art, and the Aukland Arts Festival in New Zealand.

On October 6, 2016 just before sunset, visitors to the BlockMuseum joined Kitundu for an artist-led walk to see and hear the sounds of the lake at the museum’s doorstep.  As the sky darkened, the artist and guests returned to the museum to “draw” together with light and shadow on the walls of the Block Museum lobby and the surrounding areas. Visitors used light projectors and constructions that Kitundu had crafted. Kitundu’s creations were inspired by the bronze sculpture installed permanently in the Block Museum lobby,  Neil Goodman’s, Subjects-Objects (2000)

Tracing the Building was an event presented in conjunction with The Big Draw Evanston,  a month-long festival of informal drawing programs. A community engagement initiative, the festival brings people together in public spaces to draw, think, and share.  The worldwide “Big Draw” was founded in the United Kingdom in 2000 to promote visual literacy and the universal language of drawing as a tool for learning, expression and invention. Today, more than 25 countries around the world participate in The Big Draw Festival each October.

Video by Courtney Morrison, Northwestern University ’18, School of Communication