Polyphonic Landscapes Artistic Research Residency Amsterdam (2022-24)
Searching for whales in the fog (unsuccessfully), Monterey Bay, July 2023 (video still)
Polyphonic Landscapes Artistic Research Project: Listening as research - “In the artistic research project Polyphonic Landscapes sound artists Budhaditya Chattopadhyay (IN, NL), Yolande Harris (UK, US), Teemu Lehmusruusu (FI) and Lia Mazzari (IT, UK) enquire into the question of how sound and the act of listening can contribute to a more active understanding of landscapes. In other words: How can our sense of hearing foster a more embodied, inclusive, relational, and reciprocal connectivity to our environment, the latter being ecologically understood as a process in which various life forms, materials, energy flows and temporalities are involved?”.
Curated and produced by ArtEZ University of the Arts and Zone2Source, Amsterdam, Polyphonic Landscapes included three public seminars, an exhibition of new works at Zone2Source, a podcast and a series of journal papers published in APRIA Journal. For more detail see Vertigo and the Sound Portal
WATCH this video on Polyphonic Landscapes Exhibition , Amsterdam, 6 October - 3 December 2023
Vertigo and the Sound Portal (2023)
Vertigo and the Sound Portal - An invitation to explore states of sonic reorientation through the vertiginous experience of a sound portal. A composition of sound, video and music in installation form for the Exhibition Polyphonic Landscapes at Zone2Source, Amsterdam, 6 October - 3 December 2023
How do we experience an overlaying of the sound of two places at once? Presence over distance, one environment augmenting another through sound, the potential for increased connection and empathy. I have become fascinated by such an expanded perception and the idea of a ‘sound portal’. A sound portal - the transition from sensing one place to simultaneous places - encourages a heightened sensitivity and relational reorientation, facilitated by sound and listening.
A network of inter-related questions have led to the following ideas - think of them as methods. With displaced sound comes a sense of vertigo, which I define as a loss of ground, a common experience of migration and displacement. I explore varied spatial orientations and lift, through techniques of ambisonic audio and flying drone video perspectives. The relational qualities of sound can help build connection beyond the visual. Fog is interesting here. When in fog, low visibility heightens listening and sounding, like whales swimming through dark water. We can learn from the sonic migrations, orientations and communications of other species, from underwater whale communication to redwood/mycelia forests.
Our sense of vertigo slips us through a sonic portal. A presence displaced yet fully felt. A lift into a space outside of place. The sound portal may help us question the assumed solidity of the ground we stand on, opening us up to a more fluid, empathetic and relational experience.
