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INSIDE OUT
UPSIDE DOWN
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Interactive Audio Installation
@Tŷ Pawb
Exploring useful sound art through the soundscapes of cocreative spaces
Since the industrial revolution, noise has been equated to progress. The more noise, the more machines, the more profit being made – however this increase in noise necessitated a need to cover it up.
Music in this way took a new utility, with composers such as Erik Satie coining the term ‘Furniture Music’ as a form of background music to enhance an environment and mitigate unwanted noises. Furniture music, paving the way for the likes of Brian Eno and ambient music, speaks to a noise abatement strategy that is ever present in the commercial sphere, adorning elevators, and shopping centres, in the aim to mask the unwanted noises, to create a pleasant environment for shoppers to linger within.
Background Music
Sound Environments
However, a decade prior to Eno’s seminal ventures into ambient music for places and spaces, a burgeoning movement was gathering steam; however, this time the environment was brought to the fore.
The World Soundscape Project brought attention to the sonic environment, or Soundscape as it relates to the ever-growing noise pollution, and through recording and analysis of sounds in the field, the project suggested a positive approach to soundscape design, through the interdisciplinary lens of acoustic design, communication theory, as well as physics and psychoacoustics.
Why Does it Matter?
Sounds serve as indicators of place and community. As part of the Well-Being for Future Generations act, the Welsh government has highlighted the need for development of sustainable soundscapes in towns and cities nationally.
We need to create appropriate soundscapes, meaning the right sound environment in the right time and place.
INSIDE OUT / UPSIDE DOWN explores the sounds of sustainability and co-creation through the recording and real-time reconfiguration of the soundscapes heard across the Tŷ Pawb rooftop carpark during it's process of renovation as a flourishing outdoor garden space.
Aspects of renovation, combined with the open ambience of Wrexham draws on themes of noise and sustainability at the heart of the Well-Being for Future Generations Act, putting the sounds at the fingertips of participants, bringing the upside down and outside in, encouraging a reframing of noise and sound through play.