Soundings: Making Sound in Place

Abstract

This paper explores four different site-specific sound projects called Soundings, and unpacks various reasons for ‘engagement with place’ as an arts practice. This practice is based on a collaborative approach to sound-making in various Australian environments, interactively undertaken between the author and Brisbane-based composer-performer Erik Griswold since 2007. The practice of Soundings meditates on the following questions: • How can site-specific performance lead to new knowledge, new relationships, and new experiences for the performers and listeners? • How can site-specific performance help to activate listening and, therefore, understanding of place? • Who and what is listening, and who and what is playing?