FIELD NOTES #5 |
fieldnotes.gruenrekorder.de
28 Outfalls builds a loose narrative from recordings made at sites in New York City where raw sewage flows into the city’s waterways. These “outfall” sites are underneath freeway overpasses, at the end of dead-end roads, behind fences, and next to industrial sites. Spending time listening to these places gives us a new way to hear the city, attending to shifts in tones, flows, and movements, heard as a distant roar rather than active foreground.
Listening to these places gives us a new way to hear the city, attending to shifts in tones, flows, and movements, heard as a distant, blended roar rather than a bustling foreground. Instead of the pedestrian city sounds that dominate most of our lives in New York, here water is ubiquitous, waves lapping the shore, drainpipes filling puddles for geese, and waterfalls routing excess water from the sewers to toxic ponds in Queens. This listening experience takes us to an otherwise invisible side of New York’s infrastructure and gives us a way to listen to the more-than-human worlds that our cities produce.
The research and site visits led to a short film, 28 Outfalls (2014), which has been exhibited internationally. The current audio-only version has not been exhibited or published in any form.
You can find an accompanying article in Issue #5 of Field Notes Magazine.
album credits:
Field recording, mixing, photography, and article by Adam Diller.
Cover design by Daniel Knef.