Borders: investigating liminality, outsiderness and solitude through an exploration of the sound environments of Andover (PhD Thesis) - borders #3 (2020-21)

 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 #3 (2020-21) is a collection of graphic scores for walking which can be realised in different environments. Each of the ten scores comprises a black horizontal line which represents a border, an edge, and a blue line or dot(s) that represents the instruction for action, whether it be walking or standing, but always listening and experiencing. Realisations for these scores took place at a variety of locations and environments across Andover, in an attempt to steer the focus away from the edge of the town. These scores attempted to explore an opportunity for more play in the choices for the realisations. Expanding the documentation material, the realisations were documented by a variety of means, including field recordings, photos, film and text. Liminality is expressed here via walking through changing environments, exploring and playing on and around edges/borders. Outsiderness is also demonstrated in the routes themselves – simultaneously detached from and part of the everyday, both observing and moving through it.