North

North. September 2012, May 2016

The second audio installation, was played out in the garden environment during the E17 Trail. North was recorded at St Mary's lighthouse bird sanctuary on the North East coast, five miles north of the mouth of the river Tyne, during July and August 2012. This aspect of the work was recorded within the sanctuary, among bushes and trees at the end of an bird observation path. The dominant sounds came from the North sea rolling in from the open expanse and held and settling in on the land, continually being refreshed as the lobster boat moved about its business. This sound theme became the aural field punctuated by the bird song, dry rustling leaves moved by the breeze. Within the sound there are hidden rhythms and harmonics, these have been teased out and integrated within the original recording.

Developmental themes informing the work.

The following text by Cindy Cooper a mindfulness practitioner came to my attention whilst working out the themes and position of the work and relate directly to the north south east & west work in relation to being mindful of the practice of working with audio. It's the aspect of sound “arising, holding and subsiding” being aware of just that thing, which by coincidence we could imagine is the natural “form” of sounds within a natural environment.

…...another option is not to move, but to stay still.....

move your attention up to your ears up to sound and hearing.

Just being aware of sounds arising, coming closer and then fading away, not striving to hear, but just allowing sounds to come to you.

Opening to whatever sounds present themselves, near sounds, far sounds, sounds in the body.

Furthermore Thich Nhat Hanh talks about interior psychological "knots" or "internal formations", being mindful when these arise allows them to be noticed and for want of a better word resolved or changed to a new form, this was mapped to the idea of resolving "audio formations" within the sound, working with and resolving them through the editing processes.