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 screening at University of Salford, Nov 2023. Photo by Gilan Edgar
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: Winter, previewed at Immerse event, MCUK. Photo by Andrew Brooks
Oden at Cultures of Sound, Huddersfield, Nov 2023
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
Below is a excerpt from the Winter sequence of Oden. The featured soundscape is a unique collaboration with musicians from the BBC Philharmonic orchestra, featuring recorded performances by Juilan Gregory (violin), Amy Jolly (cello) and Oliver Patrick (pitched percussion). These performances were part scored, part improvised musical responses to the sights and sounds of Odin's Gully . The subsequent recordings were then edited and woven into the overall soundscape, before being spatialised into high order ambisonics, blurring the boundaries between the field recordings and composition.
This collaboration is made possible by the Redbrick Sessions, a joint research venture, led by Prof. Alan Williams, between the University of Salford music dept. and the BBC Philharmonic.
The below clip is rendered in binaural audio - please listen with heapdhones.
This project 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 the creative potential of spatial audio in soundscape composition. It is proposed that such technologies and associated techniques can help the composer to evoke a 'multisensory conceptualisation of place' or , when combined with moving image, ‘provide cinematic experiences of being immersed within the natural world’ (Feld, 1996) (MacDonald, 2012).
The research, supervised by Dr Geoffrey Cox and Prof. Monty Adkins is an investigation into the creative potential of spatial audio in soundscape composition. It is proposed that such technologies and associated techniques can help the composer to evoke a 'multisensory conceptualisation of place' or , when combined with moving image, ‘provide cinematic experiences of being immersed within the natural world’ (Feld, 1996) (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
Oliveros, P. (2005). Deep listening: A composer's sound practice. New York: Universe.
