We have been talking in our meeting about making an audio recording that could be played in sleep.
I still feel inspired by the ideas we had in the previous weeks about being consciously aware and mindful of our surroundings.
Today I took a walk with the aim of calming my mind and I have also tried to do some meditation.
I've recorded part of my experience in the video below, partially because I thought the sound could be maybe be used later for part of the CD we talked about.
I think it kind of fits with the tradition of recording of ambient sounds, with the addition of the visual.
I hope you enjoy it.
this is really great Anna! do you think it's sort of a contradiction in terms, experiencing nature online? there is certainly a market for that kind of thing but I often think 'why am i not just outside, creating my own version of this?' or 'why does this even need to be recorded at all?' when listening to Chris Watson, or any other field recordists: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJBAd4pmuFk
ReplyDeleteit's also the same argument Margritte is (i presume) making in this painting:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/1/1f/Ren%C3%A9_Magritte_The_Human_Condition.jpg
but nonetheless, your video/sound is powerful because of this contradiction - technology generally lends itself to spectacle, quick-satisfaction, increased-productivity... your video seems to argue against this? perhaps i have interpreted it wrong but i certainly enjoyed it. i will try and pick up on your ideas of mindfulness/focus in the next post i'm writing as i definitely think they are worth exploring further.
This really is brilliant Anna. At one point I thought you'd climbed it!
ReplyDeleteDo you think this is just as effective as actually going out and experiencing it with all of the senses...smell, touch etc? Can we be just as 'stimulated' by watching a video? Which brings us back to audio recordings...can it be just as 'stimulating' or relaxing to listen to the sounds alone? Does the sound activate our imagination to the point where we can be just as stimulated as if we were really there, if that makes sense...if it isn't, then it highlights the society we live in...that we can't go out and experience it fully because we have no time etc. When in truth, we're 'missing out' on these experiences and audio CD/film act as a sort of replacement for them. Or are we really missing out? Or, to what extent are we?
Nice post anyway!
I am glad you've liked it!
ReplyDeleteTo answer your points... I think you cannot really experience nature through technology, but you can experience similar states of mind through relation to nature or technology.
When I've made it, it was more of a record of my experience rather than trying to convey how nature actually is. Through that I was hoping to share the state of mind, rather than an actual reality of the world. We can get absorbed into an external reality regardless if it is man-made or nature.
So listening to bird-song for example can give us a moment of calm regardless if it is recorded or if it happens in nature. The nature of course will be more 'real', but the effect of slowing down will be similar. Getting absorbed in a work of art can have a similar effect.
Likewise the issues that we normally attribute to technology: creating visual short-cuts, making things superficial, removing the depth from actual experience can also happen when we relate to the world without the mediation of technology: treating nature as if it is 'just pretty pictures', skimming visually through reality, selecting what we include into our picture of the world. So mediation through technology does not automatically mean ''artificial', or 'being in the world' does not automatically mean a more conscious way of relating to it.
That is my understanding at least. I liked that Chris Watson video, I'll listen to it at home again :)
This looks great Anna!! well done, i tried doing this when i was abroad at one of my school trip in middle of nowhere.....i took a nice walk out in the nature where there was no human or animal, just the nature and me, i felt very refreshed and actually felt and heard the nature calling. The best part was it FELT so peaceful.
ReplyDeleteThis looks great Anna!! well done, i tried doing this when i was abroad at one of my school trip in middle of nowhere.....i took a nice walk out in the nature where there was no human or animal, just the nature and me, i felt very refreshed and actually felt and heard the nature calling. The best part was it FELT so peaceful.
ReplyDelete