Sounding Underground

Post 1:
Sounding Underground in riders on the Train

The second and third rewarding presentations for “Sounding Underground” took place in Boston, MA, within the “Riders on the Train” exhibition curated by Nance Davies in Axiom Gallery. The Axiom Gallery is situated right on top of the Green St. station of the Bostonian metro “T” . The rumbling of the trains are heard and felt every five or ten minutes depending on the hour of the day. Cell phone pictures are the welcoming view from outside on the wall of the exhibition, divided by a video of meeting trains, go and return, created by Nance Davies. Interactive, audiovisual, video, photographic, graphic, text, and sound works bring the powerful experience of underground transport systems in one place, as perceived from artists from all over the world. On the 20th of November, I had the pleasure to participate of an artists’ talk where we had the chance to share our creation processes with the community. Personal motivations meet the political, social and symbolic contexts of these underground environments. This is a very rich and sensual exhibition that, if you have the good luck of being in Boston, and if you are or have been a commuter in public transportation… you must go!

Earlier in the day, I attended to the Studio for Interrelated Media at MASSart college to deliver a talk to students of Sound Art and Technology. I had a very enjoyable time listening to students talk about Boston’s commuting experiences, motivated by my talk about Sounding Underground and the experiences of London, Mexico DF and Paris commuters. The experience of listening to their commuting in Boston starts… and in a future it hopefully will be linked and accessed via Sounding Underground!

Thanks to Nance Davies for this amazing opportunity.


Post 2
Sounding Underground in Sound Ecologies

The first weeks of on-line life of “Sounding Underground” have been rewarding. I have had the opportunity to share the experience of its creation in three venues. The first one: Sound Ecologies: Listening to the City, event organised by Katharine Norman from the City University in London, and the independent artistic organisation Furtherfield. Sharing with other speakers, and attendants to the event was nourishing and positioned this experience as a networked experience that owes its value to the ethnographic and detail process behind it. Although the virtual Environment Sounding Underground is an important milestone there are many issues that will evolve for the contributors and audiences. It’s vital for the project to strength the networking technological options and strive for the participation of non-performers focusing amongst others, on aspects mentioned by Pedro Rebelo such as networked dramaturgia in improvisation activities on-line and off-line. Thanks to Katharine for organising such an important and enjoyable event! The work continues…

See http://soundingunderground.wordpress.com/