Oden is a multimodal interpretation of the artistic landscape, an immersive and exploratory gallery installation, featuring multiple screen projection and spatial audio. An artistic collaboration between Simon Connor (Sound & Music) and Andrew Brooks (Film & Photography).
The work is a study and re imagination of Odin’s Gully, a unique location in the UK’s Peak District, and it's changes in sight and sound through the different seasons. Visitors can make their way through this installation, experiencing the changing seasons of this landscape, at their own time and pace.
The work is a study and re imagination of Odin’s Gully, a unique location in the UK’s Peak District, and it's changes in sight and sound through the different seasons. Visitors can make their way through this installation, experiencing the changing seasons of this landscape, at their own time and pace.
Oden was premiered part of the Cultures of Sound programme at the University of Huddersfield UK, in November 2023.
Oden at Cultures of Sound, Huddersfield, Nov 2023
Oden: Winter, previewed at Immerse event, MCUK. Photo by Andrew Brooks
Oden: Winter, previewed at Immerse event, MCUK. Photo by Andrew Brooks
Odins' Gully: Field Studies, previewed at Studiobook, @ Artwork Atelier, Salford UK. Photo by Andrew Brooks
Oden: Winter, previewed at Immerse event, MCUK. Photo by Andrew Brooks
Oden: Winter, previewed at Immerse event, MCUK. Photo by Andrew Brooks
Oden screening at University of Salford, Nov 2023. Photo by Gilan Edgar
Brooks and Connor have visited, documented and gathered audio visual material from this special site over the different seasons, capturing the details and changes in light and shade, the features of its unique soundscape; caves, crevices woodland and wildlife. This gathered audio-visual footage is shaped into a creative interpretation of landscape. Inspired by the concepts and processes of Slow Cinema, Eco Cinema and Deep Listening, the detailed sights and sounds of the landscape are presented in such a way to evoke a multimodal response to the featured environment.
Spatial audio field recording techniques
Gathering sound from Odin's Gully. Photo by Simon Connor
Filming at Odin's Gully. Photo by Simon Connor
Gathering sound from Odin's Gully. Photo by Simon Connor
The unique soundscape of Oden, blurs the boundaries between real-world sound and composition. Sound and music gathered, abstracted from and inspired by the landscape. Musical elements emerge from field recordings, teetering on the edge of the real and imaginary. This blend is mixed and presented in head-tracked binaural audio, to create a dynamic and immersive sense of place.
Oden: Winter (excerpt)
Please enjoy with headphones.
Oden: Winter, please enjoy with headphones
Oden: Spring (excerpt)
Please enjoy with headphones
Oden: Spring, please enjoy with headphones
Oden: Summer (excerpt)
Please enjoy with headphones
Oden: Summer, please enjoy with headphones
Oden: Autumn (excerpt)
Please enjoy with headphones
Oden: Autumn, please enjoy with headphones
Oden is a major output of my practice-based PhD research at the University of Huddersfield.
The research, supervised by Dr Geoffrey Cox and Prof. Monty Adkins, is an investigation into new approaches of composing landscape, emphasising the integration of field recordings, musical instrumentation, sound design and moving image. The work prioritises composing with, rather than about, the landscape; where musical instrumentation and sound design is directly informed by field recordings and video footage gathered from site. Oden is realised and presented via spatial audio for headphones, allowing for an intimate and immerisve experience of landscape, in the aim of evoking a 'multisensory conceptualisation of place' (Feld, 1996), or a cinematic experience of being 'immersed within the natural world’ (MacDonald, 2012).
The research, supervised by Dr Geoffrey Cox and Prof. Monty Adkins, is an investigation into new approaches of composing landscape, emphasising the integration of field recordings, musical instrumentation, sound design and moving image. The work prioritises composing with, rather than about, the landscape; where musical instrumentation and sound design is directly informed by field recordings and video footage gathered from site. Oden is realised and presented via spatial audio for headphones, allowing for an intimate and immerisve experience of landscape, in the aim of evoking a 'multisensory conceptualisation of place' (Feld, 1996), or a cinematic experience of being 'immersed within the natural world’ (MacDonald, 2012).
For more information on the project and this research, please get in touch via the contact page.
References
Feld, S., & Basso, K. H. (Eds.). (1996). Senses of place (1st ed). School of American Research Press ; Distributed by the University of Washington Press.
Macdonald, S (2012). The Ecocinema Experience. In Rust, S. (Ed.), Monani, S. (Ed.), Cubitt, S. (Ed.) Ecocinema Theory and Practice Theory and Practice, New York: Routledge.
