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(Un)common Rain

Facilitators:

The School for Civic Action

Public Works

Michael Speers

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Related projects:

Sound Camp Festival

Acoustic Commons Project

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Keywords:

Listening, space, Covid-19, isolation, (un)common times, soundscape, extended perception, field recording, live stream

WhatsApp Image 2020-06-09 at 6.55.31 AM.

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As the sky turned dark, I was gradually overwhelmed by my own insignificance. It was comforting.

"They said 'find a place to listen', which means to me 'find a home for sounds'. It was a global lockdown, I wanted to feel safe, so I decided to hide in some much smaller spaces, doing nothing but simply listening to the rain."

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  • A roof as tender as leaves.

  • A shelter shaken by raindrops.

  • Growing structures.

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This is a project developed in the Sound Camp aiming to prototype spatial ideas for PITCH and explore the ideas of the Acoustic Commons. Due to Covid-19, the collaboration has been moved online with a theme of isolation. In this context, I explored the relationship between listening behaviour, sound perception and space, as well as personal and spatial identity.

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PITCH:

A mobile off grid sound structure which will act as a base for the Soundcamp Festival and will support the Acoustic Commons project as a listening lab.

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Soundcamp Festival:

A 24-hour festival celebrating the International Dawn Chorus Day with live broadcasts, workshops and performances. More details here.

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Acoustic Commons:

A project aiming to create space to think together about sounds, ecologies, atmospheres and collective actions in (un)common times. More details here.

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  • I moved my house from inside, trying to get it nearer to a puddle.

  • My shelter sounds crisp in the rain.

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  • I can hear the air.

  • Or is it the murmur of my shelter?

  • My shelter has its own weather.

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  • Are echoes memories?

  • The sounds refuse to die.

  • My shelter carries a heavy soul.

  • My shelter has its way of remembering me.

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Notes on self-isolation:

The house is now my body, the clock ticks my heartbeats, the light buzz the sound of my nervous system, and daily noises ever more intimate.

Through windows I hear, through walls I feel, and new media is the extension of my brain. 

The medium of perception has changed, no sound sounds the same.

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The world listens.

The world sings.

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Remarks:​

From the Seven Days - Karlheinz Stockhausen

Reveil 2020

International Dawn Chorus Day

Locusonus Soundmap

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