P1 Presentation

Here are the slides for the P1 presentation on 13/11/09

Sound scape Binckhorst

I started analyzing the first location, the binckhorst in The Hague. I recorded the environment sounds starting from the The Hague HS station all the way to the cemetery in the center of the binckhorst. The goal of this sound analyze was to capture the atmosphere, find unique sounds and establish the sound borders of the location. The data I have collected I will used to create two different approaches.  

For this approach I take the wave diagram of the recordings and place them over the route I walked. I have placed the routing in a abstract version of the area. In this map I can see the loudness and intensity of the sounds in the area in combination with the locations of the sound source.

But the this map only gives me data in the form of numbers, and not a atmosphere of the location. In order to “catch” the atmosphere I wrote a story, based on the book of Jose Saramago, Blindness. In his book a infectious disease blinds all the people in a city. In order to quarantine the disease, the government locks up the blind in a old asylum, until they can find a cure. After things come to a climax and the asylum burns down, all the blind find them self in the city what now have turned completely blind. Now the book follows the main characters in their journey into the city, but I split up from this point and write a story of three individuals who, after escaping the asylum and found themselves lost in the world, each came to one of the three location I chosen. They will experience the area blind, meaning that my the story will focus on the other senses. These three stories, together with the analytical data from the sound map,  will give me a understanding of the locations not only of the intensity, loudness and source of the sounds, but also about the experience of the area through the senses.  

(beginning of the three stories: "You tell the blind, you are free, you open the door that separates them from the outside world and repeat, you can go, you are free, but he does not go, he stands there in the middle of the street together with the other, they are terrified, do not know where to go, there is just no comparison between life in a rational labyrinth, what a asylum by definition is, and going without guidance in the crazy labyrinth what we call a city, where memory will not do you any good, because at its best it shows you places, and not the roads leading towards them. The blind stand in front of the building, flames come from every direction, they feel the heat waves slamming at their faces, just like the walls before meant also imprisonment as security....

I stand admits the blind, like everyone else confuse, afraid, lost............")

In order to compare these data, and the experiences, with the data of the other two areas (Rotterdam and Schinnen). I create a linear diagram of the map, showing the same information as the first map, together with the experience of the story. Creating this linear diagram gives me the opportunity to compare the three locations.