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In-Between Soundscapes of Vancouver: The newcomer's acoustic experience of a city with a sensory repertoire of another place

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 June 2014

Ozgun Eylul Iscen
Ozgun Eylul Iscen*
Affiliation:
School of Interactive Arts and Technology, Simon Fraser University, 1350 St Catherines Street, Vancouver, BC Canada V5T 3Z4
*
Email: oiscen@sfu.ca
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Abstract

The ‘in-betweenness’ of a newcomer, which derives from being familiar with multiple sensuous geographies and living through diverse cultural regimes, creates for them an almost experimental situation. Their lack of habitual memory and ‘soundscape competence’ (Truax 2001) of the new city is full of creative potentials in terms of acoustic experience and expression. In order to explore the dynamics of such contexts in their richness, we need to develop sensorily rich methods of inquiry. In this regard, the field of soundscape studies has been offering performative methods for sensory methodologies including ethnography. On the other hand, by incorporating a sensory ethnographic process, we can also address some issues like cultural and social sensitivity within the field of soundscape composition. I drew upon methods such as the soundwalk and sound diary, which were turned into performative expressions by employing approaches to a soundscape composition and developing a collaborative and process-oriented sound installation. In this paper, I will be discussing the recent sonic ethnographic and artistic projects I developed in Vancouver,1 and how these projects can contribute to our understanding of cultural soundscapes.

Type
Articles
Information
Organised Sound , Volume 19 , Special Issue 2: The Sound of Cultures , August 2014 , pp. 125 - 135
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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