nodar flowlines

In April of 2008 I spent a month at the Binauralmedia residency in Nodar, Portugal. My interest was to carry out a sonic and visual survey of the landscape around the local village through a series of site-specific recording sessions. In particular I compared and contrasted the geographic lines caused by the natural water flows towards the river at the bottom of the valley versus the man-made aqueduct that transverses the vertical lines horizontally and brings water into the village. Both of these phenomenon actually rely on natural forces yet one was created for a specific purpose for the local inhabitants.

Using this theme of natural flow lines, I constructed two distinct audio-visual “narratives” based on the two types of landscapes shaped by water and humans. The surveys included recording methods that stem from the types of flows, drawing inspiration from the behavior patterns of how these flows shape the landscape.

The base sound material relied on the use of ambient sounds, found objects, (natural and man-made materials), and human intervention (installation and improvisation). The visual material focused on documenting the various aspects of this location based activity. The sound and video documents were edited afterwards into a two part video work that reflects and shows the “flowlines” locations and process.

below are a number of images and sounds from the original recording sessions which include other sites I discovered along the way.


wire installation interacting with the water flow:


water harp installation in the sonzo river:


mountain tower wires recorded with contact microphones:


wire fence installation with spring shims:


tube at the source of the Nodar aqueduct:


spring shims in the aqueduct:


 

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