to be Herd, 2021
This project is the starting point for another larger project, composed of personal sonic archives of global protests.
In the book, The Production of Space, Henri Lefebvre conceptualizes space as being shaped through the interplay between three forces; conceived, lived, and perceived space. His reasoning goes beyond the intended materiality of a space - its conception - but examines how a space is perceived to be used, and how it can be further adapted based on lived desires and social relations. The organization of a group protest quintessentially exemplifies Lefebvre’s postulation on how space should be understood as a continuous social dynamic that flows between the aforementioned trialectics.
to be Herd considers how a group of bodies connect, congregate and organize themselves together to materially and socially shape space. Paradoxically, the work was produced during the pandemic, when governments regulated the proximity of social bodies. However, it was also a time when mass gatherings and protests were needed to facilitate social change. The protests addressed either national, transnational and/or international events as a way to connect, remotely, to a cause happening elsewhere.
This project materialized as an augmented reality sound walk experience composed of three distinct sound pieces, each produced using personal recordings from protests that transpired in 2021 at varying instances in Toronto. Listeners can experience the pieces by visiting the location and listening to the associated audio. The site is composed of three distinct locations within a very specific region in Toronto. The three protests (Anti-Lockdown, Palestinian, Tamil) transpired at varying times during 2021, yet seem to align across a section of the city. The abstracted sound works examine the process of documenting and formally articulating protests, in connection to its position within the urban fabric and sonic landscape of the city. In the soundwalk project the process of concentrating or suppressing “voices of protest”, as suggested by Hito Steyerl, is being explored formally. By eliminating vision, the aesthetics of protests are considered in terms of the axes of presence and absence.
In the book, The Production of Space, Henri Lefebvre conceptualizes space as being shaped through the interplay between three forces; conceived, lived, and perceived space. His reasoning goes beyond the intended materiality of a space - its conception - but examines how a space is perceived to be used, and how it can be further adapted based on lived desires and social relations. The organization of a group protest quintessentially exemplifies Lefebvre’s postulation on how space should be understood as a continuous social dynamic that flows between the aforementioned trialectics.
to be Herd considers how a group of bodies connect, congregate and organize themselves together to materially and socially shape space. Paradoxically, the work was produced during the pandemic, when governments regulated the proximity of social bodies. However, it was also a time when mass gatherings and protests were needed to facilitate social change. The protests addressed either national, transnational and/or international events as a way to connect, remotely, to a cause happening elsewhere.
This project materialized as an augmented reality sound walk experience composed of three distinct sound pieces, each produced using personal recordings from protests that transpired in 2021 at varying instances in Toronto. Listeners can experience the pieces by visiting the location and listening to the associated audio. The site is composed of three distinct locations within a very specific region in Toronto. The three protests (Anti-Lockdown, Palestinian, Tamil) transpired at varying times during 2021, yet seem to align across a section of the city. The abstracted sound works examine the process of documenting and formally articulating protests, in connection to its position within the urban fabric and sonic landscape of the city. In the soundwalk project the process of concentrating or suppressing “voices of protest”, as suggested by Hito Steyerl, is being explored formally. By eliminating vision, the aesthetics of protests are considered in terms of the axes of presence and absence.
to be Herd was featured as part of Remote Connections, during the New Adventures in Sound Art’s 17th annual Deep Wireless Festival.
(1). unMasked Voicings (2021), Sound, 4 minutes, 57 seconds
(Personal recordings taken in Toronto during the Anti-Lockdown Protest, March 7th, 2021)
(Personal recordings taken in Toronto during the Anti-Lockdown Protest, March 7th, 2021)
(2). viVA falastiNA (2021), Sound, 4 minutes, 17 seconds
(Personal recordings taken in Toronto during the Palestinian Protest, May 15th, 2021)
(Personal recordings taken in Toronto during the Palestinian Protest, May 15th, 2021)
(3). toronTIGERS (2021), Sound, 4 minutes, 52 seconds
(Personal recordings taken in Toronto during the Tamil Protest, November 7th, 2021)
(Personal recordings taken in Toronto during the Tamil Protest, November 7th, 2021)