To send to Dr. Graham:

  • struggling with the historic justifications for image sonification instead of data sonifications, so why not both anchored in a map-based soundwalk

So…

  • imagining a soundwalk [1] using relational positioning, so that it can be located anywhere.
    • except, more of an audiowalk (McCartney, 2010) due to focus on created over natural sound
  • features a map [2] and a constantly running nature track to show that sound/nature is present with or without mediation/human presence [3.1]. Also ties into feminist sound theory/feminist cinematic theory [3.2] with considerations of gendered sound (linear vs looping) [3.3] as well as the gender disparity of soundwalks versus other sonic entanglements [3.4]
    • Part A: data sonifications that run on top of the base track, triggered based on relation to where the person starts/the direction they face [4.1, 4.2]. - geosonifications [5.1, 5.2] of previously chosen archival data, but the sonifications feature auditory icons focused on industrial noise [6] and follow noise music theory [7.1, 7.2, 8] - Polli states that soundwalks are in protest of constant industrial noise assaulting sonic environments, except I would like to do the reverse and take the base track of a natural sonic environment and reintroduce industrial noise as the sounds of data (ie: log footage from LAC) - this has political implications [9, 10] and allows for a connection with acoustic ecology [11, 12] through the conjunction of the base track with the sonifications and the interplay of real and constructed environment through the noise backdrop and geosonifications. - the choice to focus on auditory nature of an environment “defines historic and ongoing social relations of humans to that environment” [13.1, 13.2]; - my choice to focus noise versus music is deliberate and plays with traditional meanings of music vs noise-based soundscape [14]; can connect this to Ottawa Valley music traditions arriving from colonial settlement
    • Part B: potentially image sonifications turned into music (not based on auditory icons) would allow for the sonification of colonial imagery in the form of archival photos, but also connect with the colonial nature of settler music in the Ottawa Valley through the traditional meanings of music vs soundscape [see 14 again]; “amplification of the meaning” [15] - I see this as alternating geosonification with image sonification in a vaguely rectangular section of the Ottawa River - sonifications have been used with embodiment/interactive art installations [15] - the use of Ottawa Valley-style music creates engagement at the auditory level with the history itself, not just with the image alone; returning sound to the visual image for a multisensory understanding of the past [16.1, 16.2] - the role of silence/base audio in between reaching different sonifications [17] - not totally sure of the image sonifications; as previously mentioned I am having a bit of a hard time justifying their use/’historicalness’ to a degree that I think Dr. Nelles would accept; however this project could include both or just focus on the data sonifications (geosonifications).

  • [1] Westerkamp (1996): sounds walks as embodied method of connecting with sound while moving through space/place; argues that the recording, manipulation, and broadcast of soundwalks can bring bring listeners closer to the environment - to “awaken curiosity and create a desire for deeper knowledge and info about our own and other places and culture; soundscapes create a clearer sense of place and beloning for composer and listener through artistic transmissions of meanings about place, time, environment, and listening

  • [2] to allow for a discussion of mapping as inherently colonial and the connection to the industrialization of the river and settlement of the area as colonial activity

  • [3.1] Cox (2018): “artists have become attracted to those domains against which music has always defined itself: noise, silence, and environmental sound; not only aesthetically but also philosophically significant, revealing sound to be a continuous material flow to which human expressions contribute but which precedes and exceeds those expressions” and experiences.

  • [3.2] Ashleigh (2016): “Feminine cinematic art has the ability to display a narrative that depends on emotional and affective techniques rather than those based in language.”

  • [3.3] Ashleight (2016): “one can exploit the gendered binary within the audio stems: the calculated masculinity of linear conversation/sound, as opposed to sensuous feminine affects of sonic symbolism.” - the linear data-driven sonification vs looping sound track/soundscape; draws on Helen Cixous’s The Laugh of the Medusa and the purposeful writing of spiraling compositions in order move the writing outside the sphere of patriarchal linearity to alter the narrative structure.

  • [3.4] McCartney (2010): “” It is important to note that many of the major figures in the field of soundwalking are women, unlike with many other areas of electroacoustic sound art and research, indicating possibilities for changing gender dynamics in relation to sound and technology.”

  • [4.1] for accessibility I think it should also be click-able for those who can’t trigger it via movement

  • [4.2] McCartney (2010): Discussion of exclusiveness of soundwalks and the need for purposeful inclusion

  • [5.1] Polli (2011): “geosonification, a term created by the author to describe the sonification of data from the natural world inspired by the soundscape” involves data-driven sonifications with soundscape-style references tossed in

  • [5.2] geosonification also has ties to anti-communication (Brun, Beuys in Polli): “an attempt to say something through new modes and an active way of re-defining or re-creating the language; media art could not only reshape and reorder information but also could reshape the communication and distribution of media.

  • [6] Polli (2011): soundwalkers move through space in silent protest of both the visual dominance in contemporary culture and the constant industrial and electroacoustic noise assaulting our sonic environments

  • [7.1] Priest (2013): “Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Noise music includes a wide range of musical styles and sound-based creative practices that feature noise as a primary aspect.”

  • [7.2] Sangild (2002): “Noises are the sounds which used to be denounced as non-musical. To include noise in music thus still has an effect and bears a certain aesthetic power.”

  • [8] McCartney (2010): ““In the studio, noise is considered a problem to be baffled, and in everyday life, noise is something to be avoided, blocked out or ignored. In soundwalks, noises and their relationships can be the focus of attention and participants can be asked to consider their place in the soundscape and their cultural significance in that context. This ideology of considering all sounds, including those usually discounted as noise, is similar to that of John Cage, who said that the use of electrical instruments “will make available for musical purposes any and all sounds that can be heard” (1961: 4).”

  • [9] Soria-Martinez (2017): representing past soundscapes (or alluding to them in the case of these geosonifications) has political implications regarding returning past memory to the present, etc.

  • [10] Polli (2011): “Soundwalking and field recording can be activist practices that address pollution and preservation through the organization of groups of people undertaking subversive activities, through the uncovering of unheard sounds and vibrational signals, and through collective documentary action, as demonstrated in the author’s NYSoundmap project.”

  • [11] Truax: acoustic ecology is a discipline that analyzes how we interpret, and are affected by, natural and artificial sounds around us; could be useful in conjunction with the soundwalk and the interplay of real and constructed environment through the noise backdrop and sonifications.

  • [12] Polli (2011): “When one closely examines soundscape, audification, and sonification in relation to the Acoustic Ecology movement, it is possible to re-establish a link between data, communication, and the environment”; “The practice of acoustic ecology generally, and soundwalking and phonography specifically, provide alternative pathways for understanding the natural and man-made environment.”

  • [13.1] Dunn (2008)

  • [13.2] McCartney (2010): Against Shaeffer’s dislike of dissociated soundscapes: “schizophonia can also lead to schismogenesis, or the birth of new perspectives, as Steven Feld points out (1994). Putting interpretations of soundwalk experiences into different historical and geographical contexts can lead to further insights.”

  • [14] Polli (2011): “the meaning of traditional music leans towards the celebration of human shaping and manipulation of the environment through sound; soundscapes celebrate human connection and suboridination to the complexity of the environment”

  • [15] Kabisch, Kuester, and Penny (2005): “Techniques for image sonification are coupled with users’ physical navigation of the image data and a visual representation of the correspondence between the image and sound.”

  • [16.1] Kramer and Noel (2020): “computational processes of remediation can illuminate new dimensions of digital archives through defamiliarization of visual representation and an expanded range of sensory comprehension.”

  • [16.2] Kramer and Noel (2020): “The practice of data fusion (a concept borrowed from Lev Manovich) has led to the production of a new media object useful for historical inquiry by systematically connecting visual archives and sound archives pertaining to the same event. “

  • [17] Rowe and Malhotra (2013: “We theorize silence as a space of fluidity, non-linearity, and as a sacred, internal space that provides a refuge—especially for nondominant peoples.”