Author: natashanicholson
carnival beats
A short film from Notting Hill Carnival, London.
Great acoustic reflections under the Westway at Portobello Road.
[Recorded on Iphone SE]
future city/ electric street sounds
EU legislation, introduced July 2019, requires all new four-wheeled electric and hybrid vehicles to have acoustic vehicle alert systems (AVAS) that make an audible warning sound when travelling at speeds of 12mph (20km/hr) or less. They cannot be switched off by the driver. The sounds are not standardised so each manufacturer is developing their own sounds.
Two example sounds from Nissan Electric:
This is the sound the electric Leaf makes when driving at low speeds.
This sound will play when the car moves backward at low speeds.
Image source: https://www.automotive-iq.com
electric city soundscape
Hear a full binaural soundscape of London’s future streets
What might London’s future streets sound like?
Source: Radio 4 Today Programme 10 Sep 2018
“This month marks the 90th anniversary of the first sound recordings of Britain’s streets. But what will the streets of the future sound like once electric and automated cars begin to replace the internal combustion engine? A music company which creates the sounds for tomorrow’s electric cars has created a binaural soundscape of what it thinks the streets of tomorrow will sound like. Narrated by Man Made Music’s Joel Beckerman.”
chihuly at kew
“You can more directly sense my energy in my Drawings than in any other work, perhaps. And from the very beginning, the Drawings were done, as my glass is done, very quickly, very fast.” Dale Chihuly
yellow westway
cardboard citizens
steely gaze
Relatum-Stage (2018) is an outdoor commission at the Serpentine Gallery, London. It is the latest work in South Korean born artist Lee Ufan’s Relatum series, begun in the 1960s. Each work is a composition using the same two materials, steel and stone. Here two rocks, one large one small, are placed either side of an angled steel plate. The interest lies in the viewer’s interaction with the mirror-polished stainless steel, and its reflections. The viewer either sees herself centre stage against the backdrop of trees, or, as if from the wings, watches the dynamic play of people moving through the park. Who is watching who?
Relatum-Stage is at the Serpentine until 27 Jan 2019
westway
From Westbourne park to Ladbroke Grove
peritropes in the peleponnese
The suspended cones of Voula Gounela’s installation in an upper room of the fortified hill fort, rotate gently in the slight breeze. It’s 33 degrees, a hot June day in the ‘old town’ of Kardamyli in the Mani, South Peleponnese, and the sound of cicadas surges over the battlements as we explore the clustered masonry buildings of this recently restored heritage site. Gounela’s title “peritropes” means ‘turning around’ or ‘revolution’ in Ancient Greek. In Hellenistic Greek it meant turning an opponent’s arguments against himself or herself. The cones are of three materials, aluminium, thick paper and glazed ceramic. The thick paper appears to be imprinted from the inscribed outer surface of the aluminium. The curved aluminium surface seems to attract and reflect the little light in the room. You feel the weight of the dark glazed clay cones. One of these has made contact with the floor, like the seabed, as the others, fish-like, turn and shimmer in the gloom.
The renovation and fitout of these buildings cost £1.5 million Euros, mostly EU funded. The restoration has mostly been done with care, though use of cement mortar rather than lime in places is surprising. A permanent exhibition tells the story of the settlement’s history, and illustrates other structures such as small stepped quarries, olive presses and water cisterns that were an integral part of surviving in this challenging landscape.
quietcarriage 