Out of field

Underwater soundscapes – Art Residency Chateau Ephemere – Poissy (France)

In cinematographic language, «out of field» is what we cannot see but we can hear, sound helps to describe what happens outside the camera frame, outside the visual field, is to recreate the imagination and listen to the invisible.

The project explores the limits between experimental music, land art, performance and sound art and proposes to «listen to nature», in the midst of climate change the whole of humanity goes through a collective sense of uncertainty, the work reflects on the act of listening to the voice of nature and seek a moment for contemplation.

Working with hydrophones in order to capture the sounds of sub aquatic life, different sections of the Seine river around the Chateau Ephemere area are explored, practicing listenings and recordings with hydrophones at various points of its course during different times of the day in order to capture different aquatic environments. The idea goal of the project is to investigate possibilities to use the natural media as a musica instrument and to make a live performance amplifying the sounds of nature itself by creating a composition in real time with the sub aquatic soundscape, making interventions with natural materials in the water and electronic processes, the work will be presented with speakers in the same natural environment.

In the recordings we can identify how nature sounds underwater, how the underwater world and its inhabitants sound, how humans intervene in these soundscapes, animals, friction of water, boats, how a dam sounds from inside, the exterior filtered by the river, a world of micro sounds and subtleties.

SOUND MAP

To listen the Sound walk click here

A sound walk is available through the My City My Sounds app, developed by the museum ZKM – Zentrum für Kunst und Medien (Karlsruhe) and you can listen to the recordings of underwater sounds along a walk designed on the river bank .

POISSY – UNDERWATER SOUND WALK

Out Of Field

Seine River Underwater Soundscapes

Out Of Field - Underwater friction, movements(credit)
Out Of Field - Underwater animals, aquatic life(credit)
Out Of Field - Wood underwater, aquatic life(credit)
NICOLAS MELMANN OUT OF FIELD PROJECT SUPPORTED BY CHATEAU EPHEMERE Fabrique Sonore et Númerique
ZKM Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe