The Relocation Project was born out of an interest in the contribution humans make in shaping their sonic environment.

 

The idea is simple:

Open up a discourse around the uniqueness and ephemeral nature of sound, with a recording of the previous soundscape played into the contemporary moment while being re-recorded with the added sound of a new or 'live' soundscape. Prooving that no two sonic occurrences are ever the same, as the ‘sound event’ is a product of multiple sounds coming into contact with each other for just a moment before the next event happens.

 

The act of recording these events speaks to the concept of 'Photography as Witness' whereby a medium is considered objective and unbiased, a medium for documenting and preserving historic moments. However, the process of playing the culmination of previous recordings adds ambiguity to what is being recorded. The sounds present are both historical (the recording is of a previous soundscape) and contemporary (the recording is actively contributing to the current soundscape). Because of this, the Relocation Project allows for a type of communication across time and place, through the recording process snowballing into a larger community of sonic interaction. 

 

‘City Lights’ is the inaugural iteration of this recording process. If you'd like to find out more about the project visit  ethancoombridge.wordpress.com