Whale walking
Jan 13, 2023, 11:23 AM
"In the development of Whale Walking, I used the recording of a killer whale as my starting point. After listening to the track on repeat over time, I decided I would try and create a broader world for the whale with the help of and a series of field recordings I had made of water flowing above ground and below ground, using hydrophones and a geofone. These recordings were made in the West Fjords of Iceland during a research trip very near to the Arctic Circle.
"I slowly scaffolded a spacial hydrosphere for the whale sounds to exist within and where they can move. Using a Haken Continuum mini I selected appropriate oscillation and synthesis sounds that would sit with and fit with the killer whales.
"These include sounds that are meant to simulate the calls of other animals under the water, and sounds meant to guide a listener on a walk underwater, a place many have not been and whose sounds when amplified, bring to life a hard to describe self contained sonic sphere, one that also mirrors back to the listener their own internal rhythms. The work uses spatialisation to move the listener, the whales, and sound waves through the water."
Killer whale reimagined by Diana Chester.
Part of the Polar Sounds project, a collaboration between Cities and Memory, the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Explore the project in full at http://citiesandmemory.com/polar-sounds.
"I slowly scaffolded a spacial hydrosphere for the whale sounds to exist within and where they can move. Using a Haken Continuum mini I selected appropriate oscillation and synthesis sounds that would sit with and fit with the killer whales.
"These include sounds that are meant to simulate the calls of other animals under the water, and sounds meant to guide a listener on a walk underwater, a place many have not been and whose sounds when amplified, bring to life a hard to describe self contained sonic sphere, one that also mirrors back to the listener their own internal rhythms. The work uses spatialisation to move the listener, the whales, and sound waves through the water."
Killer whale reimagined by Diana Chester.
Part of the Polar Sounds project, a collaboration between Cities and Memory, the Helmholtz Institute for Functional Marine Biodiversity (HIFMB) and the Alfred Wegener Institute, Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research (AWI). Explore the project in full at http://citiesandmemory.com/polar-sounds.