credit: Susannah Kelly

Sounding Cork

Location

The Guesthouse, Shandon, Cork. May 2015.

Description

I am intrigued by the role that sound plays in our perception of environments, particularly in how we constitute place. My model of investigation is built around the sounding, a concept which transforms sound from noun to verb, in order to emphasise the active process by which we create a place anew, each time it is encountered.

This residency at The Guesthouse manifest itself as a process blog and a public performance/exhibition that included field recordings, photography, and text.

During my stay in Cork, I asked residents to take me to places they wished to share for unique sounds or personal resonances. Participants were encouraged to listen in new ways, to place new value on the sonic in relationship to other sensory modalities, and to realise that their own activities are connected to a larger community of listeners.

From these personal journeys I built a shifting sculpture of Cork, a montage of overlapping subjectivities, presented as an evolving installation. Photographic and textual documentation, some of it poetic, supplemented ongoing sound recordings. At the end of the residency, the material was re-interpreted through an improvised performance, and a gallery showing of photography.

Thanks

I wish to thank all at The Guesthouse, especially Mick O’Shea and Irene Murphy, for their generosity.

A big thanks to local residents who shared their special places with me. This project would not have been the same without John Byrne and Tony Langois.