First to Cross

Audio Walk at Tompkins Square Park, NYC

The First to Cross is an immersive, choose-your-own-adventure audio experience that reveals the intertwined story of humans and rats. Set in Tompkins Square Park after dark, this piece invites listeners on a guided journey through one of the East Village’s most storied and mysterious public spaces.

Through sound and narration, participants explore a layered psychological landscape shaped by coexistence, adaptation, and survival. At the center of the walk is the rat—a synanthropic animal that has evolved alongside humans and continues to thrive in the heart of the city. Furry, elusive, and famously fond of pizza, the rat becomes a lens through which we examine the urban ecosystem and our place within it.

The First to Cross is the third chapter in The Synanthrope Preserve, a series of immersive audio walks set throughout New York City. Each experience focuses on a different synanthropic animal—such as pigeons, raccoons, and rats—that lives and thrives in close proximity to us. These pieces invite participants to reconsider the everyday spaces they move through and the animals that quietly share them.