Borders: investigating liminality, outsiderness and solitude through an exploration of the sound environments of Andover (PhD Thesis) - borders #1 (2018/19)

 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.   

borders #1 (2018-19) is a collection of text-based scores. Each score (except for places) uses minimal text as instruction for potential realisations. This lends an open form for the pieces so they can potentially be realised in variable geographical locations, albeit still within the framework of each score. Several of these pieces are walks to be carried out on or through the edges of urban/suburban and rural areas, where these two different environments merge. Others are for realisations in spaces which present other aspects of the in-between, such as the border between two different rooms, and the connection between the past and the present. places is a piece for field recordings and environments, where the recordings should be listened to in opposing environments and a blending of the two different environments can be experienced. The main focus for the pieces in this collection is an exploration of liminality – the liminal is expressed through the experience of these in-between geographical and time environments, and the scores aim to frame these spaces/experiences.