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Traversing The Concrete Marvel : Walking The Un-Sung City

Hernandez, Katt LU (2023) p.148-163
Abstract
Soundwalking has its roots as a meditative practice, engaged with ecological concerns. Its origin in R. Murray Schafer's work imbibes it with longing for environments free of industrial sound, and Pauline Oliveros' sound-walking practice seeks the subtle emerging from the silence. Although these progenitors of what we call soundwalking offer us a wonderful palette of listening and walking practices, they are lacking when it comes to heavily human-built environments like cities, inner-suburbs, industrial areas or exploited land. The composer Toru Takemitsu described the buzzing of the biwa string against its face-plate as ‘a beautiful noise, emerging from the apparatus of an obstacle'. This idea can also be a counter-balance to the practice... (More)
Soundwalking has its roots as a meditative practice, engaged with ecological concerns. Its origin in R. Murray Schafer's work imbibes it with longing for environments free of industrial sound, and Pauline Oliveros' sound-walking practice seeks the subtle emerging from the silence. Although these progenitors of what we call soundwalking offer us a wonderful palette of listening and walking practices, they are lacking when it comes to heavily human-built environments like cities, inner-suburbs, industrial areas or exploited land. The composer Toru Takemitsu described the buzzing of the biwa string against its face-plate as ‘a beautiful noise, emerging from the apparatus of an obstacle'. This idea can also be a counter-balance to the practice of sound-walking that celebrates ‘natural' sounds over ‘artificial' ones. In the soundwalks of Oliveros and Schafer, one is a careful and respectful listener. In the ‘derive', or ‘drifting', of psychogeography, one is a subtle agitator. But what of the city walker who does not travel these two poles of agitation and reserve? Between and outside them unfold innumerable inter-worlds, offering a deeper sense of place. The city is an archetype of multi-faceted place, but the way it manifests in daily minutia defies the archetypal. In walking and listening, the pre-human, artificial, historic, futuristic and contemporary all collide in fistfuls of pathways and secret maps. In the original soundwalks of Schafer and Oliveros, humans are eternal visitors. But in a city one is always a participant, emerging together with the beautiful noise as co-creators. This chapter is written to look beyond common soundwalking practices, through my own and others' ways. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
organization
publishing date
type
Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding
publication status
published
subject
keywords
soundwalking, psychogeography, sound art, Urban Studies
host publication
Soundwalking : Through Time, Space and Technologies - Through Time, Space and Technologies
editor
Smolicki, Jacek
pages
148 - 163
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:85149526725
ISBN
9781032044224
DOI
10.4324/9781003193135-10
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
904d7104-1e38-4c44-965f-e5cf49756385
date added to LUP
2023-01-04 00:20:31
date last changed
2025-04-04 14:19:19
@inbook{904d7104-1e38-4c44-965f-e5cf49756385,
  abstract     = {{Soundwalking has its roots as a meditative practice, engaged with ecological concerns. Its origin in R. Murray Schafer's work imbibes it with longing for environments free of industrial sound, and Pauline Oliveros' sound-walking practice seeks the subtle emerging from the silence. Although these progenitors of what we call soundwalking offer us a wonderful palette of listening and walking practices, they are lacking when it comes to heavily human-built environments like cities, inner-suburbs, industrial areas or exploited land. The composer Toru Takemitsu described the buzzing of the biwa string against its face-plate as ‘a beautiful noise, emerging from the apparatus of an obstacle'. This idea can also be a counter-balance to the practice of sound-walking that celebrates ‘natural' sounds over ‘artificial' ones. In the soundwalks of Oliveros and Schafer, one is a careful and respectful listener. In the ‘derive', or ‘drifting', of psychogeography, one is a subtle agitator. But what of the city walker who does not travel these two poles of agitation and reserve? Between and outside them unfold innumerable inter-worlds, offering a deeper sense of place. The city is an archetype of multi-faceted place, but the way it manifests in daily minutia defies the archetypal. In walking and listening, the pre-human, artificial, historic, futuristic and contemporary all collide in fistfuls of pathways and secret maps. In the original soundwalks of Schafer and Oliveros, humans are eternal visitors. But in a city one is always a participant, emerging together with the beautiful noise as co-creators. This chapter is written to look beyond common soundwalking practices, through my own and others' ways.}},
  author       = {{Hernandez, Katt}},
  booktitle    = {{Soundwalking : Through Time, Space and Technologies}},
  editor       = {{Smolicki, Jacek}},
  isbn         = {{9781032044224}},
  keywords     = {{soundwalking; psychogeography; sound art; Urban Studies}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{01}},
  pages        = {{148--163}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  title        = {{Traversing The Concrete Marvel : Walking The Un-Sung City}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.4324/9781003193135-10}},
  doi          = {{10.4324/9781003193135-10}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}