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When we think of lines of sight we might characterise visual reciprocity by someone looking you in the eyes. Mutual perception, uninterrupted and direct: I see you and you see me, when you return my gaze we are together.
I think lines of sound travel differently. Think of your neighbours: weight shifting above-head, an odd knock that comes and goes. Do you stop to wonder what might be making that noise? Sometimes I imagine a whole universe beyond that white wall. I think there’s something quite curious about how reciprocity works in the audioscape. Hearing something places me immediately in its affective realm without me having to perceive it directly, without it knowing I’m there. Sound transgresses: It bends, turns, interferes and travels across thresholds in the way organic sight cannot.
I think of noise as an actor in a world of privileged Western sight. How radios were used to bypass information channels in acts of protest and solidarity. How people sing to celebrate, how monks chant in funerals, how wolves howl. I cannot see you, but I am Here. I am listening.
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we’re surrounded by sound. it is constant, capable of being both overwhelming, and easily ignored. It’s grounding to give sound, and silence, the respect and reflection they deserve.
Mar 16, 2024
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I’ve recently read a book about the concept of “soundwalking” and listening to the beauty of your surroundings exploring your city and neighborhood. I used to become pretty over stimulated by the sounds of the world and would used my headphones religiously to block any sounds of the outside world from getting in. But I started to wonder if the things I use to protect myself from the outside world also isolating me from experiencing it to its fullest potential. Maybe the sounds of construction and people talking and birds and busses aren’t just “sound pollution“ but a reverberation of society and life. An organic inprov performance just for me where I am right now in the world. it made me think that anything has the potential to be a work of art depending on your perspective. I’ve started walking with a tape recorder everywhere I go and I record the sounds around me as an auditory diary of sorts. it’s fun to listen back and be reminded of the sounds of the bowling alley or the cafe or the sound check at the punk show. Since this perspective shift I’ve become allot less over stimulated by the world and become more creative with my greatest resource: the world around me.
Jan 10, 2025
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my headphones broke in october and i'd been too cheap/too lazy to buy new ones - until today when i popped into one of those phone repair shops today that have those big neon lights outside to let everyone know 'WE FIX PHONES!!!'
so i listened to music whilst on the go for the first time since october and it was... kinda overstimulating ?! i like how much more i notice in silence; even if that means feeling uncomfortable when the wind hurts my ears and having to endure incessant howl of my mental to-do list and also the cars honking. even visually i am able to notice more subtleties when my sense of sound isn't being overpowered by music. anyway, this post is an oldie but i got rethinking about it today
Jan 22, 2024
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