Augmented Audio Walk
Only Expansion
Thu 17 – Sun 20 Jun | Free
“Arresting, poised, beautiful, dark, innovative” – Seth Honor, Kaleider
As sea levels rise and wildfires burn, Only Expansion remixes the sound of the city around you to experience sonically how your own life might change in the future. A beautifully made guidebook prompts you to explore the city, choosing your own route, while headphones with customised electronics capture and manipulate the sounds around you.
Voices of passers by become a choir, bus brakes create pulsating rhythms, these might then be blended with desert winds from Tunisia or the coasts of Norfolk, you hear what your own city would sound like if it were underwater. A visceral and poetic reflection on what it means to live on a planet in crisis, Only Expansion connects the here to the elsewhere, letting you experience our tangled ecology through sound.
How to Experience
To experience Only Expansion we ask that you book a start time using the link below. Slots are available between 2-8pm on Thu & Fri, and 10am-5pm on Sat & Sun. You’ll begin the walk at Phoenix, where we’ll provide you with the audio kit and guidebook. The walk doesn’t have a set route – the guidebook will prompt you to explore different parts of the city, while the responsive audio kit will remix the sounds you hear in real-time. The experience should last approximately 40mins. Suitable for ages 14+, although younger children can take part with adult supervision.
Covid-19 Notes
Only Expansion is designed to be a solo experience, taking place entirely outside. Booking slots have been staggered to avoid queueing on pick up and all equipment will be thoroughly sterilised between uses.
To create this piece Duncan travelled to sites around the world undergoing rapid environmental changes, collecting sounds from wildfires in the USA, the crumbling cliffs of England’s east coast, rising seas around Norway and the dunes of the Northern Sahara. Using realtime audio software these recordings are combined with the sounds of the city the audience is walking through.
Duncan Speakman (UK 1976) is a composer and sound artist based at the Pervasive Media Studio in Bristol. He creates narrative sound led experiences that engage audiences in uncontrolled public and private space. He regularly creates bespoke work internationally including installations on trains in Guangzhou, loudspeaker symphonies in New Zealand, audio walks in Saitama, and sound installations in Porto; he has also recently developed a number of hybrid print/digital experiments.
His current research is in the relationship between locative urban audio experiences and contemporary ecology, wrapping the questions in melancholy and romance. He set up and directed the arts collective Circumstance from 2010 – 2017 with Sarah Anderson and Emilie Grenier, later joined by Tom Abba. He continues now as a solo artist and researcher.
Credits
Only Expansion
created by Duncan Speakman
music: Sarah Anderson and Duncan Speakman
book design: Tom Abba
technical support: Steve Symons
production assistant: Will Taylor
lasercut design: Fiona Dowling
Only Expansion was developed with support from Theatre in The Mill Bradford, University of Exeter Arts And Culture, Lydgalleriet Bergen, and Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants.
This tour of Only Expansion is being supported by the Watershed Bristol and commissioned by Season for Change, a nationwide programme of artistic and cultural events that celebrate the environment and inspire urgent climate action. Led by Julie’s Bicycle and Artsadmin, and supported by Arts Council England and Paul Hamlyn Foundation.
www.seasonforchange.org.uk #SeasonforChange @jointheseason_