‘Bridge Links’ is a complicated project; Esther Ainsworth, artist on the project, informs us about some aspects of the work.
PHASE 1
I’ve spent the last few weeks wandering up and down the canal from the point of the border between the boroughs of Westminster and Camden down to the tunnel at Angel.
Armed with a sound recorder, my mission has been to gather field recordings and talk to towpath users about the project.
It’s really difficult to document recordings in visual format but I’ve included a few snaps from my travels on foot.
The interesting thing about going out and making recordings is that you never really know what you are going to find. As the soundscape changes all the time, I am confident that many of the recordings I have discovered could not be found for a second time.
My initial recordings have included observing sound when beneath bridges. I’ve made many recordings just listening to the way that the structure of a bridge can create its own unique acoustic chamber.
PHASE 2
My second set of recordings has been made up of the sounds that most people don’t hear in the speed of modern life. The canal provides a place to meander, to engage with the pace of the canal boatman in a world which demands us to check clocks, worry about tube delays, and squash the ability to listen beneath the howl of screaming traffic.
Along the canal, recordings have ranged from the rushing of a waterfall at St Pancras lock, the pigeons who sleep beneath the bridges quietly nesting, distant church bells, rustling leaves, passersby, and, of course, the staple sound of the tow path – the bicycle bell. These just name a few amongst many.
PHASE 3
More recently, I have been concentrating on the more rhythmic sounds of the canal. The chugging of engines, footsteps, the repetitive submersion of a canoeist’s oars. The traffic rattling above the canal bridges and beginning to transform these into loops and rhythms.
My project has moved forward every day.
PHASE 4
After the arrival of the flyers I had made up last week, I decided to go out and engage with the community, asking people to create their own sound recordings on the canal via mobile phone, and to email them to me or send them as a voicemail.
The steady trickle of contributed sounds has lead to a new element for the work… the element of surprise.
PHASE 5
It is now the night before the first day of the installation. I have a wonderful sound composition so far; thank you to everyone who has been involved in the project. It doesn’t end here, as I’m expecting more sounds to arrive from passersby tomorrow, as the second day arrives the work could be completely transformed again, so please send me your sounds and I’ll make sure they get included in the work!
– Esther Ainsworth
Sound Artist
