m u d  r o o m   is inspired by Steve Goodman’s text Sonic Warfare in relation to J.A. Baker’s text The Peregrine. Baker writes, on the banks of the estuary ‘man walks in water or mud; there is no dry land. Mud is another element. One comes to love it, to be like a wading bird, happy only at the edges of the world where land and water meet, where there is no shade and nowhere for fear to hide.’ This concept of a space of fear is supported by Goodman’s writing on the influence of sonic and subsonic vibration and frequency on space and bodies, especially spaces of culture and congregation like sound or clubbing venues. In his writing on ‘the throbbing crowd’ Goodman references Elias Canetti’s work on ‘Crowds and Power’: ‘the affect of fear, particularly of being touched by the unknown, forms a basic logic of population physics.’ This sublime quality of fear is the inspiration for and intention of   m u d  r o o m  . There is a tension between fear linked to silence, confusion and isolation, and fear linked to sound, bonding in community and evolution. Fear can be made manifest as exhilaration or a heightened sense of presence and clarity. Baker writes, ‘Learn to fear. To share fear is the greatest bond of all.’ 

m u d  r o o m   questions how we flock together, in the paradox of escape through gathering. This ‘escape room’, while a social game concept, is also central to the purpose of a club room. ‘The club can be as much of a trap or a broken promise as it can be an escape from reality. Or it can be all those things at once.’ 

m u d  r o o m   is about the muddiness between spaces virtual and physical; between spaces under and above ground. It is about being stuck in the mud, trying to push through and figure out; the universal feeling of difficulty of articulation, the fear of being lost, unheard, silenced or trampled. It is about discomfort and the fear of being obliterated but also the sublimity of such obliteration. In the virtual   m u d  r o o m   we wade like birds in the mud, at once together and blaringly apart, in a space of unknown.

mud room

‘murmur’ is a research project working within the field of unsound theory. The project engages with themes of ornithology; alienation and community; silent or unheard modes of knowledge production and dissemination; psychogeographical reimagining of the urban landscape; sonic subcultures and questions of nature versus culture.

‘murmur’ is a pervasive discourse rippling through spaces between land and water, urban and sub-urban, sound and unsound. The soundscape accesses a sonic environment of fear and discomfort – one which relays the seeking obliteration while feeling both dread and anticipation. The creation of a space of fear is central to themes of self-silencing and self-oppression central to the work. ‘murmur’ questions why we flock together in the paradox of escape through gathering in such spaces, into and out of the absurdity of silence.

murmur

glen rave: microvalley as glacial trauma on the earth

glen rave is a soundscape of 7 minutes duration (looped) inspired by and set in the glen at the foot of Mount Knocknarea in Sligo. The glen is a microvalley formed by glacial impact over centuries. This soundscape was composed by myself in collaboration with fellow artist and friend Aoife Banks. Her research focused on glacial trauma on the earth as socio-political affect. Her research addressed the links between the fear responses of flight, fight, flee, or fawn in relation to the various stages of H20: water, ice, and evaporated forms such as mist and fog. The soundscape was exhibited in the glen for one evening in July 2020.

glen rave

samhain scape tells the story of Halloween 2020, always looping back to the beginning. In and out, we enter and we exit, we loop around in the environment and close the circle. The space will forever be a time loop of the experience we had there. We walked into the forest, and walked back out, changed or unchanged. There is a story to tell within the loop, it repeats and refracts, changes and transforms; it expands and contracts to infinity.

Wolf howl sound used: 'A solitary wolf howls in the Cooper Creek drainage. Wrangell - St. Elias National Park. The creek, itself, is an aufeis-filled reverberate acoustic environment'
Marsh sound used: 'Suburban Quebec, Canada, Active marsh in spring at dusk, some wind. distant dog barks. Active frogs and birds'

freethebirdd

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