Sonic Topologies: Evaluating and Extending the Artistic Possibilities of Soundmaps using Ambisonics (Spatial Audio) Field Recordings from Hong Kong

Project: Research

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Description

Field recording – on location rather than studio recording – is an increasingly commonmedium for creative expression adopted by artists and musicians. A popular method forshowcasing field recording-based work is through online interactive soundmaps whichhave proliferated since the late 1990s; examples such as radio aporee allow anyone tocontribute their recordings, tagged to the precise location of their capture through mapApplication Programming Interfaces (APIs). By encouraging discussions on issues ofidentity and place in relation to sound, they have raised public awareness of sonicenvironments and enabled their preservation. However, the reliance on standard mapAPIs and audio streaming functionalities has led to a homogenisation, limiting thevariety and development of the artistic possibilities of soundmaps, in addition tocomplicity in digital ecosystems with ethical concerns. The proposal expands the use of soundmaps in an artistic context, beyond thenormalised practice of browsing Google Maps whilst clicking through stereo recordings,for a more imaginative and critical listening experience using Ambisonic field recordingsof Hong Kong. Ambisonics is a 3D sound format which has become increasinglyaccessible due to its incorporation into 360-video and VR formats; its strength derivesfrom its flexibility in offering a more immersive experience which has thus far not beenused extensively in soundmaps. Interviews with ten sound practitioners based in HongKong and abroad and surveys with 20 local and international participants running localsoundmaps or contributing to global soundmaps will be conducted to determinestrategies for creating soundmaps and field recordings. These primary data sources willbe coded and analysed to develop the first typology of soundmaps concerned primarilywith its use as an artistic tool, of interest to sound practice scholars. The typology will beused by the PI to develop a soundmap in collaboration with four local sound practitionersand local residents through a series of workshops on soundmaps, field recording andAmbisonics. We will consider soundmaps as topologies, referring to the mathematicalstudy of properties preserved under continuous transformations, as a creative analogyfor liberating recordings from the overtly indexical structure of standard onlinesoundmaps. The practice-based research extends the PI’s previous work usingAmbisonics field recordings to create soundmaps where sound enables a form ofcartography without relying exclusively on sight for navigation. Concurrently, we willcontextualise the artistic research through scholarly papers and present the researchand artistic outputs in an exhibition, both online and offline. 

Detail(s)

Project number9043619
Grant typeGRF
StatusActive
Effective start/end date1/01/24 → …