2017
Paper: Shores, p.554-569.
Proceedings of Invisible Places Symposium, Sound Urbanism and Sense of Place, Sao Miguel, Azores.
ABSTRACT: The aural experience Shores seeks to value artisanal fishing as an important part of the cultural heritage of São Miguel and the Azores, which has been drastically declining. A boat was converted into an acoustic shell to transmit a sonic memory of the fishing community, on a soundscape travel through places and ecosystems of São Miguel’ shores.
Shores intervention resulted from a dynamic of co-creation. A workshop involved fishermen families and students in a process of sound mapping, field recordings, soundscape composition and installation of the acoustic boat. It looked to encourage conscious listening across generations and a sonic connection with the acoustic environment.
Shores’ aural architecture spatialised the soundscape with natural acoustic effects, according to its frequencies spectre. Space’s resonance magnified environmental sounds to enter into sympathetic vibration with the audience’s body and mind. The installation facilitated an experience of affective attunement to self and the surroundings.
KEYWORDS: aural architecture, field recordings, soundscape composition, urban
intervention, acoustic ecology.
Download the Proceedings here
These proceedings look at (and listen to) the soundscape as a complex system that is one of the means by which we connect with the world. The soundscape is, in essence, the life of a certain space as perceived through hearing. Our understanding results from a cognitive process that involves all the senses as well as our history, context, and culture. An integral part of this process is our acoustic perception, where noise is often overvalued. Although sound is a relevant parameter in human perception, it is often neglected by professionals involved in the planning and design of places. The political discourse at international level has shown a growing concern with the problems of the acoustic world, but this approach is often negative, focused on the quantitative and objective reduction of noise levels, which, although necessary, doesn’t guarantee a signi cant improvement in the sound environment or in people’s satisfaction and quality of life. A multidisciplinary approach is needed. One that among others, adds the contributions of the arts and the social sciences to the physical aspects of sound. (…)
Contributors include: Peter Cusack, Juhani Pallasmaa, Hildegard Westerkamp, Sam Auinger, Jordan Lacey, Stephan Moore, Sarah Pink, Sepei Zhao, Lawrence Harvey, Xiaojun Qiu, Shanti Sumartojo & Simon Maisch; Mikael Fernström & Sean Taylor; Kris Darby; Karla Berrens & Marcos Cereceda; Franziska Schroeder & Pedro Rebelo, Steve Peters, Claudia Martinho, Robin Parmar, Yannick Guéguen, Jen Reimer & Max Stein, Vitor Joaquim, among many others.
Edited by Raquel Castro & Miguel Carvalhais.
ISBN 978-989-746-129-3. 678 pages.