Chris Sciacca
Integrated Soundscapes: Brighton (2021)
World Premiere
Venue
Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
BN1 9RA
Dates & time
Wednesday 9th March – Friday 18th March 2022
11.00 – 16.00 (Mon–Sat)
Integrated Soundscapes: Brighton is a series of location recordings, that highlights pairs of opposites in the sound environment – accompanied by photographic montages.
Based on the terminology developed by Bernie Krause and Stuart Gage, the work synthesises the spheres of sound that make up the unified field of the sonic environment: biophony, geophony and anthrophony and is inspired by Walter Benjamin’s enigmatic concept of the ‘dialectical image’, in The Arcades Project manuscripts (1934). Through the juxtaposition, montage and superimposition of sound sources, the work proposes a surrealistic, multivalent perspective of space and place. In addition, each composition combines multiple points of audition between two or more locations, creating a simultaneous and duplicitous image of place.
Each piece is centred on one or more preconceived oppositional tensions, which are determined by the artist. These include temporal categorisations, for instance, such as day vs. night and conceptual oppositions, such as noise vs. music or, more metaphorically, in the contrast between polarised human responses to the Covid 19 pandemic. Within each soundscape, additional tensions may be explored within the physicality and spatialisation of the sounds themselves, these relationships then becoming inextricably linked into an inseparable whole. These imagined landscapes of sound form a dream image interpretation of the world manifested through the raw materiality of sound. Akin to the art critic John Berger’s analysis of landscape as a way of seeing, Integrated Soundscapes aims to present soundscape beyond its mechanical representation as a way of hearing.
Patcham to Chattri War Memorial Soundwalk Chris will also be leading a soundwalk in the South Downs. More information about the event can be found here.
Chris Sciacca (USA)
Chris Sciacca is an American sound artist and practice-based researcher specialising in sonic ethnography and soundscape composition. His recordings have been featured on NTS Radio’s Field Recording: Infinite Mixtape series and Resonance Extra, and exhibited at the Fort Process Festival in Newhaven, UK. His works explore the theme of space, place, and cultural identity through immersive and detailed location recordings. His current research explores Walter Benjamin’s concept, the ‘dialectical image’ as it relates to digital sound recordings. His past research has investigated sound’s role in fostering authenticity in documentary cinema.
Venue information
Attenborough Centre for the Creative Arts
University of Sussex
Gardner Centre Road
Brighton
East Sussex
BN1 9RA
www.attenboroughcentre.com
info@attenboroughcentre.com
01273 678822
Opening hours
Wednesday 9th March – Friday 18th March 2022
11.00 – 16.00 (Mon–Sat)
Bernhard Leitner • Kopfräume / Headscapes
SOUND INSTALLATION
• Attenborough Centre
• 09 March – 18 March 2022
A/B Smith • ICU
AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATION
• Brighton CCA: Dorset Place
• 04 March – 19 March 2022
SOUNDER • Sounder Postcards
SOUND INSTALLATION
• Brighton CCA
• 04 March – 19 March 2022
Joshua Le Gallienne • Surrender
SOUND INSTALLATION
• Location TBC
• 12 March 2022
Sensing Sound: Ali Donaldson in Conversation with Chris Cutler
EVENT
• ONCA Barge
• 17 March 2022
Jez riley French • Microlistening Workshop
WORKSHOP
• Hillcrest Centre, Newhaven
• 02 March 2022
Kathy Hinde • Chirp & Drift
SOUND + LIGHT INSTALLATION
• Attenborough Centre
• 09 March – 20 March 2022
Jean Martin & Wil Pennycook • One Minute Past
AUDIOVISUAL WORK
• Brighton CCA
• 04 March – 19 March 2022
Chris Sciacca • Integrated Soundscapes: Brighton
AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATION
• Attenborough Centre
• 09 March – 18 March 2022
SOUNDER • Sound Skater
PERFORMANCE
• Location TBC
• 06 March 2022
Sound Art Brighton's Sound Art Disco
EVENT
• The Rose Hill
• 17 March 2022
Place Metal Strings (Jez riley French, Adam Bushell + Alice Eldridge)
PERFORMANCE
• The Rose Hill
• 01 March 2022
Olivia Louvel • Doggerland Channels
AUDIOVISUAL INSTALLATION
• Phoenix Art Space
• 02 March – 06 March 2022
Toby Hinks • Foci
SOUND INSTALLATION
• Gallery Lock In
• 09 March – 13 March 2022
Sanja Matkovic • Stolen Childhoods
SOUND INSTALLATION
• ONCA Gallery
• 10 March – 02 April 2022
Chris Sciacca • Patcham to Chattri War Memorial Soundwalk
EVENT
• Patcham
• 19 March 2022 (re-scheduled date)
Non-binary & Queer Perspectives on Listening
WORKSHOP
• Brighton CCA
• 19 March 2022
Combining local sound art talents with international guests, the festival celebrates the diversity and range of this broad and hybrid art practice and pays hommage to the multitude of sounds to be found in our city – with the Downs on one side and the sea on the other, as part of a UNESCO biosphere.
