An Uncomfortable Audio Ethnography

Sound and Politics in the Evolution of an Acouscenic Listening Approach to Softday’s Sonically Engaged Art Practice

Abstract

Sound art is at the vanguard of contemporary fine art practices seeking to establish a platform for meaningful creative debate on a range of contested anthropogenic, social, political and environmental issues. This paper explains how Softday’s practice of Acouscenic Listening may be utilised as a methodology for the Creative Soundwalk, thus creating conditions for a participatory sound art praxis, which advances a novel understanding of the everyday. The etymology of the Creative Soundwalk is defined through the assimilation and application of key theoretical frameworks that demonstrate where and how the practice may be positioned within the everyday. The practice is influenced by the work of experimental composers, scientists, artists and researchers who have created the conditions for this particular interdisciplinary line of enquiry. The practice incorporates adapted Deep Listening, Tai Chi/Chi Kung, creative soundwalks and mindful sonic meditation practices and philosophies. This study clarifies how Softday’s practice of Acouscenic Listening supports a creative turn in the execution and delivery of the Creative Soundwalk, and explains how interdependent both elements are in communicating this new creative praxis. This paper also discusses the development of this creative approach for sound art and acoustic ecology, developed over a nineteen-year timeframe within a collaborative art/science. Importantly the theories we have included locate both the practice of the Creative Soundwalk and Acouscenic Listening within the everyday.