HARDHOUND

Lawrence English – Site-Listening: Brisbane

Author: Colin | Published: 3/7/11

Lawrence English - Site Listening Brisbane

Lawrence English - Site Listening Brisbane

Lawrence English - Site Listening Brisbane

Lawrence English - Site Listening Brisbane

Lawrence English - Site Listening Brisbane

Lawrence English - Site Listening Brisbane

Lawrence English - Site Listening Brisbane

Lawrence English - Site Listening Brisbane

Artist Lawrence English
Title Site-Listening: Brisbane
Label Room40
Year 2010
Design Ralph Steinbruchel
Music “Site-listening”
Notes This is a lovely field guide which consists of a book of essays and a 3″ CD. The cover can be detached and unfolded to reveal a schematic map to which is affixed the disc. The whole thing is described as introducing “… the idea of Site-Listening – a focused exploration into the ideas of site, space, sound and listening.” The book is handily sized so that it will fit easily into a pocket. It’s an unusually old school approach in these days of GPS-enabled, MP3-playing phones and all the more charming for it – though there is a challenge in finding a way to convert the 3″ CD to MP3 for those of us with slot-loading computers.

The Room40 website has this to say:

The book features three short essays (from David Toop, Nick Earls and Lawrence English) each of which ponders our relationships to the sounds we find ourselves in daily contact with. It also contains 17 listening locations that can be found in Brisbane. These locations act as a sound map of sorts, plotting out sound curiosities across Brisbane’s varied terrain. The accompanying maps, photos and texts offer a brief overview of possible encounters, as well as personal reflections of each location’s sound characteristics. The field guide also offers an informal ‘how to’ guide for site-listening – both for first time listener and more experienced ears. The edition is an invitation calling for other interested parties to develop site-listening within their own cities/spaces/communities.

Now if only I had the opportunity to test this guide out in its intended environment…

Listen Site-Listening: Brisbane (edit)


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