Borders: investigating liminality, outsiderness and solitude through an exploration of the sound environments of Andover (PhD Thesis) - border (2022)

This practice-based research project examines the relationships between sound, place, and identity through an investigation of liminality, solitude, and outsiderness in the context of Andover, a market town in southern England. The study is centred around a portfolio of soundwalk-based compositions that explore transitional and peripheral environments where urban and rural soundscapes meet. Using methods grounded in soundwalking, art-walking, and some psychogeographic approaches, the research explores how compositional practices can frame everyday sound environments and how these practices explore the themes of liminality, solitude and outsiderness. The work focuses on liminal geographic and acoustic spaces, where differing environmental conditions meet, and examines how these areas can be represented and interpreted through artistic practice. The compositions are realised through solitary walks and are documented using a range of media, including field recordings, photography, film, and text. These documentations are intended to represent the acoustic features and personal experiences of specific locations and link them with the broader themes being investigated. The compositions engage with the sonic characteristics of Andover’s environments and outskirts, and investigate how these contribute to influences on memory and a sense of place. The thesis presents the outcomes of these explorations as contributions to the understanding of liminal environments and compositional responses to everyday soundscapes. It proposes that soundwalking and related practices provide useful tools for investigating liminality, solitude and outsiderness, and for articulating nuanced relationships between individual perception and the acoustic environment.

border (2022) consists of walking the same route, once each week, for a year. The idea of 'the walk is the piece' had been developing throughout the project of borders, and this piece, border, is the most mature representation of this idea in my work thus far. There is also a repetitive nature to border, which is something I had not yet explored. This repetition, repeating the same walk each week, reflects the repetitive walks of everyday life – whether it be walking to-and-from work, the shops, walking the dog, or walking to any destination in everyday life where the same route may be unavoidable. The repetition is also an opportunity to reflect on each experience of the same route – how each experience differs, how each experience is similar. This piece occurred in 2022, starting from the first week of the year, and ending in the last week. This piece has no official score.