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Abstract
This paper uses a mobile audio work in a ruined landscape as a starting point for thinking about what environmental sound art does. I distinguish between transpositional works, which take sonic material from landscapes and re-present it elsewhere, and in situ works, listened to within landscapes. Listening, in this analysis, goes beyond attentive conscious perception, encompassing how bodies are moved by sound as an affective force. Thus as well as representing landscapes, in situ audio can shape listeners' movements within the landscape, and hence their relationships to places, albeit in ways that may be small-scale, temporary and difficult to articulate. I also discuss some ethical and epistemological issues raised by the affective potency of in situ audio.
Special thanks to Hayden Lorimer for involving me in the Invisible College. I am grateful to NVA and all those who contributed to the drift, particularly Ally Jardine, the interviewees, and to listeners who shared their responses, including Katie Hemsworth, Tahira Nasim, Hester Parr, Hannah Neate and Stephen Daniels.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Notes
[1] The drift is available for free download from the Invisible College website: http://www.theinvisiblecollege.org.uk/AudioDrifts. It was designed to be listened to at Kilmahew, on headphones. Whilst it can of course be auditioned anywhere, the analysis I make in this paper is specifically concerned with how it functions in situ.
[2] Feedback was gathered through a questionnaire distributed at four on-site events where people were invited to experience the drift in situ. More detailed reflections from participants at these events were emailed to me afterwards, and expressed in informal conversations, some of which were audio recorded.