Reconfiguring the Landscape

Field of study: Artistic Research

Outdoor sound environments have penetrated the materials and structures of electroacoustic composition and sound-art, and we have witnessed an increase in the number of installations and compositions, and the awareness of sound in architectural environmental design. More recently, our technology to capture, analyse and synthesise 3-D sound spaces using tools such as higher-order ambisonics has aligned with the precision of our spatial hearing, such that electroacoustic composition has the potential to address, and be enriched by, the full dimensionality of the sonic landscape. Unthinkable only a few years ago, it is this affordance and challenge that the project takes as its point of departure.

The project structure began by investigating four cross-disciplinary modules aimed at exploring the 3D soundscapes and landscapes from different angles. The integration of art and technology was central to the investigation. Sound, space, human behaviour and temporal variations are captured, analysed and embraced as sources for creative work.

Documentation

The project is documented in the Research Catalogue.

Publications

Barrett, N. (2021): "New Directions in Soundscape-base Sound-Art: Hybridising Autoethnography with Computational Analysis." In Proceedings of the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network Conference, Leicester.

Barrett, N. (2020): "Deepening Presence: Probing the hidden artefacts of everyday soundscapes." In Proceedings of the 15th International Audio Mostly Conference (pp. 77-84).

Drack, V., Zotter, F. and Barrett, N. (2020): "A personal, 3D printable compact spherical loudspeaker array." In Audio Engineering Society Convention 148. Audio Engineering Society.

Sound Installations

Public Space, Outdoor sound-art Installations