Soundwalking in contested space

Andrew Brown

I am an artist researcher undertaking a Ph.D. by Published, Established, and Creative Works at Nottingham Trent University, entitled ‘Soundwalking in Contested Space’. Soundwalking is an expanding creative discipline with its origins in situationist practices and soundscape studies. Alongside numerous fellow artists and researchers, I am exploring the far-reaching possibilities of the medium. In my thesis, informed by over two decades of leading art walks and composing soundwalks, I interrogate my own soundwalking practice, that I use as a means of investigating contested space. I consider findings from six of my soundwalks composed between 2013 and 2018 and guide the reader through my process and the methods of aleatoric composition, temporal shift, synchrony, and ordeal that, in combination, distinguish my soundwalks. Alongside writers and theorists such as Tim Edensor, Brandon LaBelle, and Frauke Behrendt, social geographer Doreen Massey provides a firm theoretical foundation through her conception of space as ‘the product of interrelations’ and imaginable as ‘a simultaneity of stories so far’ (Massey, 2005, p. 9). While Massey adopts a generally progressive tone in her articulation of space, in recognition of the human potential that can be realised through spatial encounters, I place emphasis upon its contested nature, as a product of the unequal power relations that arise out of the everyday interactions of human beings. My contribution to knowledge is both thematic and methodological, through my core concern of human-contested space, the specific combination of methods that I apply within my practice as research, and in the ways these methods encourage deeper appreciation and understanding. My research journey traces a path through contested urban and rural space and exposes the lived realities of human experience when utopian or hubristic visions falter or fail. My findings are directed towards researchers investigating contested space, be it from artistic, social-historical, or environmental perspectives. .

Soundwalking in Contested Space

This exposition contains documentation of the six soundwalks that, together with my exegesis, constitute my thesis.

The soundtrack for each soundwalk can be played using the sound bar beneath the description.

A slideshow contains photographs captured at different stages of each of the soundwalks. Below each of these is a map showing the route.

This documentation is not intended to stand in for the practice itself, but rather as an accompaniment to the exegesis, offering an access point into this body of practice as research.

Credits:

A Walk through S

Photography: Louis Niedojadlo, Mia Niedojadlo

OpenCity Aix

Lise Godard, Lee Juhyung, Pierre Pallias, and technicians Remy and Francois.

Photography: Lise Godard

OpenCity Berlin (West)

Photography: Kate Brehme

Pentrich Rising - South Wingfield.

Leigh Toro, Harry Freestone

Photography: Kaidi Huang, Jo Wheeler

Pentrich Rising - Giltbrook

Photography: Kaidi Huang, Jo Wheeler

OpenCity Nine Elms

Photography: Molly Bouch

A Walk through S (2013)

Selected for the Vociferous Void exhibition curated by Professors Dr. Neil Brownsword and Anne Helen Mydland at Bergen Academy of Art and Design (KHiB, now part of the University of Bergen). The exhibition formed a key component of the 2013 British Ceramics Biennial that attracted 36,000 visitors to the former Spode factory site in Stoke-on-Trent.

It was performed on three occasions during the Biennial, at 2 pm on Friday 27 September, and at 10.30 am on Saturday 4 and 11 October.

OpenCity Aix (2015)

Selected for the Mobile Audio Fest by curators Elena Biserna and Peter Sinclair from the Locus Sonus research centre. The festival was a 4-day event exploring the relationships between mobility and (new) forms of listening and soundmaking and was concieved as a series of rendezvous in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille.

The soundwalk was developed over a two-week period and performed three times, at 11 am and 2 pm on Friday 20 November and 4 pm on Saturday 21 November.

OpenCity Berlin (West) (2016)

Composed for the symposium UrbanTOPIAS. Discussing the Challenges of Changing Cities. The 5th Annual Conference of the International Graduate Research Program Berlin-New York-Toronto: "The World in the City: Metropolitanism and Globalization from the 19th Century to the Present", which ran from 27-29 October 2016. The symposium was curated by Kate Brehme, an Australian independent curator based in Berlin.

The soundwalk was performed twice at 3 pm and 5 pm on 28 October 2016.

Pentrich Rising - South Wingfield (2017)

The initial impulse to compose the two Pentrich soundwalks came from reading a plaque at a junction on the A610 in Derbyshire that described an event, a killing that took place in June 1817, during what has become known as the Pentrich Revolution. South Wingfield was the start point for the original march.

I led the Pentrich Rising soundwalks over two weekends in June 2017. They have repeated on numerous occasions since, and I restage the South Wingfield soundwalk each year around the anniversary.

Pentrich Rising - Giltbrook (2017)

What is now the Ikea car park at Giltbrook saw the conclusion of the original march, the point at which the revolutionaries were routed by magistrates and the local yeomanry.

I have repeated the Giltbrook soundwalk on numerous occasions since 2017, when it was first performed as part of the commemorations of the events of June 1817.

OpenCity Nine Elms (2017/18)

Originally commissioned by curator Rosie Hermon for the Winter Trails: Remapping Nine Elms festival. It wasrestaged for London South Bank’s Art Night Open presented alongside the curated programme the Art Night Open programme, organised by Zarina Rossheart.

OpenCity Nine Elms was staged at 3.15 pm on 16 December 2017 for the Winter Trails festival. For Artnight on 7/8 July 2018, it was scheduled to capture the varying moods of the city at 6.30 pm (dusk/sunset), 8.30 pm, 11 pm (to coincide with pub closing time), 1 am and 3 am.

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