residency Reflection

O2 Planning + Design, Artist Bursary Residency
October 2024 – October 2025

Summary

SoundStrata was a research‑creation project that paired short field recordings with time‑based drawing notations to make the temporal structures of places discussable across art, ecology, and planning. Originally scoped as a public‑facing pop‑up in support of O2’s work with the City of Edmonton’s Breathe: Green Network Strategy, the collaboration did not materialize as anticipated. I therefore focused on rural sites that I could access consistently, producing audio excerpts, scored drawings, and annotations. The method privileges listening‑with after Karen Barad’s intra‑action, treating drawing and recording as one entwined practice. Rather than substituting sound with metrics, the drawings serve as legible traces for conversation: what to preserve, where to soften, and how to stay responsive to subtle changes. These results remain transferable to urban contexts and future participatory installations.

Overview

SoundStrata was conceived as an applied sound‑listening residency to support planning and design conversations. The main body of work presented here is based on a series of rural sites, captured through field recording and translated into time‑based drawings.

Concept

SoundStrata pilots a larger participatory public installation where visitors select a short recording (from wetlands to alleyways) and translate what they hear into shared drawings using a simple time‑based code (density and loudness; height and pitch region; gaps/rests and silence; pressure and proximity/impact). Drawings accumulate in real time on a communal surface, revealing how multiple listeners perceive the same place differently.

The aim is not measurement but sensory literacy: to practice careful listening, compare patterns, and discuss what should be preserved or changed in our acoustic environments. Sound becomes a civic material; drawing becomes a visual conversation.

Each drawing is a material‑semiotic inscription of relations among wind, water, voices, infrastructure, and more‑than‑human signaling as they unfold in time. Following Pauline Oliveros’ deep listening and Karen Barad’s intra‑action, drawing and sound are co‑actants in a single event. The drawings reveal a listeners sensitivity, not mere illustration.

Operationally, the notation is semiotic:

density to perceived loudness
height to pitch region
pressure/line weight to proximity/impact
motif/recurrence to periodicity

The result is both iconic (resembling temporal form) and indexical (caused by situated listening). Unlike a placeless spectrogram, hand‑made scores preserve scale, duration, and error: the human sensorium registering more‑than‑human rhythms.

For publics and planners, this coupling widens what counts as evidence. Murray Schafer’s soundmarks become glanceable; Puig de la Bellacasa’s care becomes procedural as people co‑draw; and design conversation shifts from “how loud” to “which relations” and “when.”

Approach & Methods

Field recording: portable field recorder, 3 to 4 minute takes; brief site notes (weather, time, notable events).
Recordings are edited in Audacity - remove distracting sounds (clicks, me, excessive wind) - 30-45 second clip created
Drawing translation: Sound clip is set on loop - I listen for awhile until I sense the shape of the atmosphere/background and then begin experimenting with mark making to find the shapes of the highlights and key note sounds graphite/charcoal score using the code above (density, amplitude, vertical position, perceived pitch band, line pressure, proximity, gaps/rests, recurring motifs).

Rationale for Rural Emphasis

Proceeding independently in rural locations enabled a methodologically consistent study. Relevance to urban design persists via:

Transferable grammars: windbreak turbulence, tonal drones, and event‑based impacts recur in urban contexts (façade rustle, HVAC tones, traffic near/far).
Baseline literacy: lower masking at rural sites makes patterns easier to learn and later apply to complex urban mixes.
Ethical practice: working where I have standing relationships reduces extractive tendencies and supports repeat observation.

From Recordings to Planning Conversation

Each site (audio + drawing + annotation) supports design dialogue without collapsing everything to numbers. Questions that emerged:

Which existing soundmarks should be preserved or amplified?
What rhythmic or tonal changes would an intervention introduce (materials, planting, water management)?
Where could small design moves act as acoustic instruments (windbreaks, culverts, textured surfaces) to shape desirable sound qualities?
How might wildlife signaling (frogs, birds) inform seasonal timing and habitat protection?

Key Learnings

Method fidelity matters: a simple, repeatable process creates new findings and allows deeper listening.
Temporal attention is design‑relevant: rhythms and rests shape perception as much as loudness.
Context before metrics: qualitative listening establishes what could be measured.

Selected References

Barad, K. Meeting the Universe Halfway (2007).

Puig de la Bellacasa, M. Matters of Care (2017).

Schafer, R. M. The Soundscape (1994).

Voegelin, S. Listening to Noise and Silence (2010).

Sample clips and drawings below:

Alkaline Shore

Dominant sources: wind across a receding waterline, insects, distant birds.
Drawing features: wide gradient fields with fine stippling.
Interpretation: low‑amplitude complexity; many small agents; stable background airflow.

Gravel quarrY

Dominant sources: intermittent traffic activity, wind.
Drawing features: compressed blocks separated by long rests.
Interpretation: strong dynamic contrasts; long periods of negative space; clear event onsets.

Lakeside Meadow

Dominant sources:
Drawing features: undulating low‑wave forms interspersed with clustered fine stippling; rhythmic but uneven density.
Interpretation: layered tonal strata with dynamic micro‑patterns of life; an acoustic horizon where human and human‑made infrastructures dissolve into a single hum.

Bushed Area

Dominant sources: layered bird calls, soft bush rustle, wind in leaves
Drawing features: concentric ripples from central points; delicate arcs intersecting short vertical strokes.
Interpretation: polyphonic serenity and momentary gestures within a continuous pulse; the temporal permeability of habitat edges.