A Sonic Sculpture (in progress)

Sound recordings made in public spaces of varying durations by interacting with each location. For example, at a cafe I order something and sit at a table; in a museum, I look at the exhibitions; at a park, I sit on the grass; etc. In all of these situations I try to become a part of the landscape in order to document the sonic qualities of the space. Each recording is timestamped with the time of recording. Locations are carefully notated. The recordings (will) play in a space at the time they were recorded, and are geographically arranged in the space according to where in the city they were recorded. The audience experience is of a textured sonic walk through a condensed and abstracted cityscape.

10:10am

12:34pm

2:33pm

5:03pm

Above: Where the recordings have been made (to date) in the city

 

Below: How speakers will be arranged in a space

The clips above are compressed with 4 to 9 channels of audio. However these tracks will be played individually in the the installation. Each speaker will play only the sounds recorded in that ‘location’ at the specific time it was recorded. So as one moves through the space, they may be led by sounds. There may be a cacophony. There may be moments of silence. It will be a space of energy and becoming, like a city on any given day.

 

24 September

Walked across and past City Center to Kelvingrove Park. My third visit to record audio. I am happy with today’s recordings. Have been rethinking this project so much already in just the week since the work began. Thinking about ‘the why’ of this project; the parameters, and ‘the why’ of those, too. I am sure this project will continue to change as it comes to life, but I think the main questions are answered. Now it comes to time, patience, sculpting, standing back, being present, diving in, repeat repeat repeat.

I have made several audio sculptures and installations in the past. Often my test recordings involve movement which (tend to) result in messy unworkable audio files. Arriving in Glasgow and faced with the complex situation of making art during Covid with no studio, a small carry on suitcase of AV equipment and few (to no) other art materials. Ideas of grandeur and a sense of pragmatism in wanting to complete something. This enmeshed in a drive to walk explore see listen experience. Much of my COVID year has been spent literally sheltering in place. Working in front of the computer, getting supplies delivered. Wearing a facemask to collect the mail outside. Avoiding even friends unless separated by a screen. Sigh. How to make art, while trying not to live solely in a box as a stranger in a strange land. How can I interact with my location even if we are all social distancing? I walk. Drawing from my background in sound work and my meditation practice, I find that more and more as I walk, I walk without the music or podcasts piping into my ear canals and I just listen. I stop occasionally despite uncertainty and strangeness (to sit in proximity of others! Oh my!) at cafes and without intention find myself listening to conversations. Perhaps they ring more loudly for having spent so much time away from social gatherings this year?

I started thinking about audio walks – I made one a few years ago before knew much about them as a genre. I decided to explore this again from a different entry point. Janet Cardiff, clearly, comes to mind as an inspiration. Also Susan Philpzs, Christina Kubitsch. Rafael Lorenzo-Hemmer.

I even looked at audio walking tour apps. None of these was really the experience I wanted to convey. I thought I wanted to narrate, to speak to the audience but as I walked around the city thinking about what I wanted to include two things became clear. I tend to move through spaces rather than linger in spaces. I think this is true for many of us. We are a society on the move. I also found that the deeper I went into dialogue with the city and listened, really listened, I was not sure another layer of me translating that conversation was necessary. I decided to sculpt Glasgow in sound. It’s a surveillance conversation, really. And also a poem to slowing down and being present.

 

10 October 2020

Made an Are.na channel to layout artistic references (mostly as a test for trying out are.na)

 

23 October 2020

Recorded audio thrice this week. Finally.

With COVID numbers rising dramatically, every day, I admittedly am more concerned about putting myself in public places for durational periods of time. This coupled with the fact that with more rain and cooler temperatures, the more interesting sonic spaces are indoors. So, one, I would need to be indoors, and two, to be indoors and linger – with the exception of a handful of cafes, places where people are talking and not wearing masks, can be suspect (to just stand in a museum or department store where there are no benches is awkward if not attention drawing in a not just curious way; even the train station, there are armed men standing on balconies watching people, which most likely predates COVID. However given that there are fewer people in the station and fewer seats available, my presence just feels quite transparent, which I say confidently having already recorded at the central station three times now. The construction sites are near impossible to record because they definitely do not want a female pedestrian just standing in the midst of their activities. The ideal scenario would be to sit outdoors at the cafes and pubs that line these work spaces. They are however now closed. If I stand across the street, then I just hear the traffic, not the sonic textures and rhythms of the sites themselves.

So…all to say I am stepping back a bit to consider more. Maybe this is wise, maybe overly cautious. In any case there are other projects to work on.

I have also started mapping out the locations to find where shared speakers can exist in the realization of this soundscape. So the work continues and the recordings slow down. For now.