Jonathan Prior

http://12gatestothecity.com/soundwalks/soundwalk-2/

Jonathan Prior, University of Edinburgh

Soundwalking: the disruption of linear time and sonic ecologies

In this presentation, I want to look at the potential for the practice of mediated soundwalking methods - that is a walk that is guided by recorded sound and voice, usually using a personal stereo system and headphones – to creatively disrupt the bodily sense of moving through linear time, as well as spatial place.

Using examples from my own soundwalking practice, as well as by other practitioners, I want explore the potential for creative researchers to use soundwalking as a means for story-telling, as well as a method for the playful détournement of the live (beyond the headphones) acoustic environment, to create new sonic ecologies. Through an exploration of various acoustic techniques, I want to demonstrate that soundwalks offer practitioners and listeners the ability to actively participate in the act of reconstructing, heightening, and even obliterating the psychoacoustic properties of different spaces places, and times, whether in the art gallery to the city street.