In a way [noise pollution] is analogous to second-hand smoke.
(Goines and Hagler 2007: 287)
SHLUK: Thinking Through Sound
SHLUK is a noise trio based in Prague, composed of Sara Pinheiro, Jiří Rouš and Petr Zábrodský. The trio has a background in artistic research (Pinheiro, Šenkyřík, Rouš and Zábrodský 2019; Pinheiro and Rouš 2022) and a taste for noise and site-specific interventions. Some time ago, we decided to investigate the relationship between noise and pollution. Our research method revolved around choosing certain noisy locations in and around Prague and recording them, while also studying theories of noise, pollution, and urban planning. The area surrounding the Barrandov Bridge became a central point for our research; it includes a deactivated swimming pool (Barrandov Bazen) in which SHLUK performed live. This performance was programmed for and became the basis for the soundtrack of a documentary directed by Vladimir Turner, Veřejně Prospěšné Práce (Community Service). Turner’s documentary investigates how a number of Prague-based artists – among them, SHLUK’s member Jiří Rouš – relate to contemporary issues such as (noise) pollution in the city.
This paper focuses on the event – produced for the performance and featured in the documentary – called Hladiny (Surfaces). It navigates through the intertwined research and artistic processes that led to Hladiny; it reflects upon our findings but also on our ideas about sound and noise, and the possibility of relating to our environment through sound. Analogous to the relationship between research and creative processes, the paper alternates between theoretical grounds and in loco experiences, while following the decision-making processes that led to the above-mentioned performance. In other words, the theory resonates in the practice and the practice informs the theory.
In this paper we will first offer a context in which sound, in its multiplicity, can be discussed in relation to ideas around noise. Next we will describe our practices of field recording as research and, to that end, also the regions covered in the research (and in the recordings). Particular attention will be paid to the methods and strategies adopted for making these recordings. At the end of the paper, these ideas and practices lead to the coining of the concept of “Deep Recording” as a possible “tool of care” (LaBelle 2020).