How We Move When the Air Opens a Space
How We Move When the Air Opens a Space was a project conducted during a residency in Iceland in 2021 (SÍM Samband íslenskra myndlistarmanna) supported by a Creative Scotland Visual Artist and Craft Maker Award (VACMA).
Reentering rural spaces following the Covid 19 pandemic, I was interested in deferring to modes of more-than-human play as a way of recalibrating a lapsed creative practice. Relocating the body in a space that was unrestricted by safety regulations and virus mitigation advice, I spent a week observing ravens riding the wind swells in Gorvik Bay, just east of Reykjavik.
Aiming to break down perceived restrictions and rules around creative fieldwork practices and, specifically, field recording, I instead ‘played’ with allowing the wind to hit the mic forcefully — usually a disruptive sound field recordists aim to remove or avoid. In doing so, the wind became a directive force, shaping the field practice during the stay at SIM, mirroring the ravens' reactive movements in the gales. Acting responsively to the rapidly changing weather in the bay, a sound work was made by combining wind, hydrophone recordings from the sea and stream and contact mic recordings of localised plant landscapes.
Placing the sound work with the footage of the ravens, How We Move When the Air Opens A Space is a short work that examines how to reorient the body through play into a vivid awareness of air, water, ground and light, after a period of living inside.
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Aiming to break down perceived restrictions and rules around creative fieldwork practices and, specifically, field recording, I instead ‘played’ with allowing the wind to hit the mic forcefully — usually a disruptive sound field recordists aim to remove or avoid. In doing so, the wind became a directive force, shaping the field practice during the stay at SIM, mirroring the ravens' reactive movements in the gales. Acting responsively to the rapidly changing weather in the bay, a sound work was made by combining wind, hydrophone recordings from the sea and stream and contact mic recordings of localised plant landscapes.
Placing the sound work with the footage of the ravens, How We Move When the Air Opens A Space is a short work that examines how to reorient the body through play into a vivid awareness of air, water, ground and light, after a period of living inside.
