After conducting numerous studies in environments characterized by the sounds of cars, buses, trams, and trains, my work in Venice provided a refreshing change of scenery. Here, road traffic was replaced by water traffic, and pedestrians navigated unmotorized trolleys along the pavements.
The work in Venice was collaboration with Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello Venezia.
The period in Venice was short and the aim was for a rapid application of the 3D sound landscape techniques developed over the previous year's work on site-specific installations. The schedule involved students, (who were also voluntary helpers), staff, and the stay ended in a public event:
- 31st August: arrival.
- 1st-2nd September: familiarising with Venice's geography and culture, an in particular planning how to manœuvre around the tourists and tourist hotspots.
- 3rd-7th: sound recording
- 6th: Outdoor impulse response recording
- 5th-8th: composing
- 9th: public presentation and concert(initially planned as an outdoor installation but the threat of rain too the work inside).
Recordings were made at different times of day to capture the life cycle of the island. Very early mornings just after sunrise was my favourite time of day before the tourists were up and about. Recording sites were classified with the following sound landscape features:
- Open squares with locals and fewer tourists, in close proximity to a bell tower.
- Open squares with locals and fewer tourists, in distant from a bell tower.
- Narrow streets (various widths).
- Narrow canals and waterways.
- Wide canals and waterways.
- Vistas over the lagoon and main waterways.
- Markets and work places.
- Other features.
Here is a small selection of the recording sites where it was possible to both capture audio and take pictures. This wasn't always feasible, especially when the area was crowded, requiring me to stand closely beside the recording equipment for its protection.
Outdoor impulse response recordings were conducted in the open courtyards of the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello Venezia using the MhAcoustics EM32 microphone and the Spat5 Sweep Measurement Kit. In contrast to my previous impulse response capture work, where a single Genelec 8050 loudspeaker was directed in various directions, we arranged four Genelec 8040 loudspeakers in a small square, pointing outward. While not strictly a spherical sine-tone sweep projection, the sound interacted with the main structures of the space.
The intention was to develop a sound installation for the open outdoor courtyard of the Conservatorio di Musica Benedetto Marcello Venezia. However, despite the favorable weather during the initial part of the stay, as the event date approached, rain was forecasted. Since the we lacked weatherproof outdoor loudspeakers, the event had to be moved indoors. This change also altered my composition strategy, marking the first instance of relocating a work originally intended for a different site. Although the research, technical and artistic approach remained consistent with my previous installation projects, the approach to temporal structure shifted more towards that of concert composition.
I composed two works - Impossible Moments from Venice 1 and 2 - which were played in the conservatory's main concert hall.
Later, I remixed both pieces with a more comprehensive compositional intent. They have since featured in concerts. The stereo versions are included on the Reconfiguring the Landscape CD.
In September 2022 I landed in Venice for the first time. Loaded with expectations about history and culture, and influenced by how Venice has featured in the literary fiction of some of our great writers, my goal was to explore this city of islands, canals and bridges. Happy to be there outside the peak tourist season, and a year after cruise ships had been banned from the lagoon, I walked, listened and recorded. The tall and narrow buildings mislead a GPS and cast you into watery dead-ends, while a blind corner may reveal a hidden diagonal bridge leading to a passage the width of a person, transporting you directly to where you had intended to go. Capturing reality seemed impossible. The sounds, the acoustics, the light, the people, and whether the concept of the Venetian as a native inhabitant still exists, created a paradox of past, present and expectations of the future.
This was to be the final field-trip in the Reconfiguring the Landscape project. I originally intended to apply all the experience of the last years to rapidly compose a site-specific sound installation in the heart of Venice. But despite the fine weather, the threat of rain changed my plans. Impossible Moments from Venice 1 and 2 instead became short soundscape concert pieces. Both unfold from the sound of wooden window shutters opening in the morning. No. 1 creates music from a narrative of floating iron piers, vaporetti (water buses) and the behind the scenes jostling of the graceful gondolas from 5 am to 8 pm. No. 2 reveals the outdoor city squares, a fishmonger and church bells, from many vantage points, and ends with a fortuitous recording exemplifying the clash of cultures living side-by-side in this city.