TY - JOUR
T1 - From soundscape to soundwalk and beyond
T2 - strategies for the sonic exploration of urban narrative
AU - Abrantes, Eduardo
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - In recent years, the trans-disciplinary potential of sound has been rediscovered, and different strategies of sonic exploration have become pervasive when inquiring into the complexity of the urban setting and its narrative. Our aim is not, however, aim to portray the wide-ranging field of interaction between sound and urban design. Instead, it proposes outlining and discussing some of the implications of the subtle evolving shift between two distinct conceptual and practical strategies of sonic exploration: the move from soundscape towards soundwalk – and beyond. We inquire into the history, conceptual framework, and artistic deployment of the notions of ‘soundscape’, understood as multi-layered audio panorama activated by heightened listening awareness, and ‘soundwalk’, as embodied, immersive performativity, with a greater focus on the scale of inhabiting that confers urban design its meaning, that of the ground level ‘listenerpedestrian-dweller’, engaged in navigating the everyday. Throughout this inquiry, focus is drawn from examples of the work of sounds artists and composers, such as Luigi Russolo, Hildegard Westerkamp, and Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller; and from a conceptualization of overlapping acoustic territories inspired by an implicit dialogue between Danish architect Jan Gehl, French philosopher Michel de Certeau, and American sound artist and scholar Brandon LaBelle.
AB - In recent years, the trans-disciplinary potential of sound has been rediscovered, and different strategies of sonic exploration have become pervasive when inquiring into the complexity of the urban setting and its narrative. Our aim is not, however, aim to portray the wide-ranging field of interaction between sound and urban design. Instead, it proposes outlining and discussing some of the implications of the subtle evolving shift between two distinct conceptual and practical strategies of sonic exploration: the move from soundscape towards soundwalk – and beyond. We inquire into the history, conceptual framework, and artistic deployment of the notions of ‘soundscape’, understood as multi-layered audio panorama activated by heightened listening awareness, and ‘soundwalk’, as embodied, immersive performativity, with a greater focus on the scale of inhabiting that confers urban design its meaning, that of the ground level ‘listenerpedestrian-dweller’, engaged in navigating the everyday. Throughout this inquiry, focus is drawn from examples of the work of sounds artists and composers, such as Luigi Russolo, Hildegard Westerkamp, and Janet Cardiff & George Bures Miller; and from a conceptualization of overlapping acoustic territories inspired by an implicit dialogue between Danish architect Jan Gehl, French philosopher Michel de Certeau, and American sound artist and scholar Brandon LaBelle.
KW - Sound Art
KW - Architecture
KW - Phenomenology
KW - Urban Studies
M3 - Journal article
VL - 8
JO - Le Arte del Suono
JF - Le Arte del Suono
ER -