kevin logan

mEDIalAB pROject

(In)audiblecities / medialab @B3.media

[In]Audible Cities

This project is intended to take the form of an interactive sonic environment.
It is inspired and informed firstly by the book 'Invisible Cities' by Italo Calvino in which a
multitude of imagined cities are described, only to turn out to be all the same place.

"Not only is the book structured around an interlocking pattern of numbered sections, but the length of
each section's title graphically outlines a continuously oscillating sine wave, or perhaps a city skyline."

And secondly by the Situationist concept of dérive, the practice of drifting through cities by chance.

"to dérive was to notice the way in which certain areas, streets, or buildings resonate with states of mind, inclinations,
and desires, and to seek out reasons for movement other than those for which an environment was designed."

Vergroot

1.jpg -

The project is still very much in a development stage , but fundamentally involves an interface which enables
users to upload / add audio clips which are then played and looped creating soundscape compositions.

The graphic element of the interface may exist online or on a localised computer or both.
It is important that the content can be captured and added by fairly lo-fi devices such as standard mobile phones.

possible scenario -
The user will react to prompts such as , to record a certain type of sound or make a field recording from a particular
area or location and to transfer it via bluetooth to the interface. This will then become a compositional element in a
soundscape. In turn a short audio composition could then be sent back to the device or listened to via mobile phone.