The Contemplating Seat

The Transforming Wall

The Remembering Walls

Various Scenes (Overview)

Welcome!

This blog has been set up by atelier | small, Tang Ling Nah and Zai Tang, as an online platform documenting the development of our collaborative public art installation, titled ||| Movement. Our work will be shown from 14th October – 4th November as part of Hub-to-Hub and Archifest 2011.

The chosen site for our work is the transitory space between the National Museum of Singapore and escalators leading to Stamford Green and Fort Canning, where the old National Library once stood.

 

The work itself is a site‐specific installation exploring the cycle of construction, deconstruction and renewal within the city. It comprises three zones―remembering, contemplating and transforming―reminiscent of three movements in a single musical composition. Sound recordings from the urban environment are transformed and fused with architectural elements made from construction waste to create a distinct aural‐spatial experience. The work encourages the public to slow down, stop and contemplate on the perpetual cycle of urban transformation through the act of listening.

Thank you

We'd like to extend our gratitude to the following people, who helped make our installation possible.


Contractors / Supporters


1. Everise Awnings & Iron Works - steel works & construction works
2. J & C Services - cabling works
3. Hong Gam Industries Pte Ltd - supply of reclaimed timber strips
4. Uncle Moh Interior Design & Renovation - supply of salvaged plywood strips
5. Hoong Thye Furniture & Renovations Pte Ltd - supply of plywood boards


Sponsorship


Acclaim Lighting
ATLAS Experience: http://www.atlas-sv.com/


Documentation


Olivia Kwok (for photo-documentation of setting up): www.jooksh.com


Tang Ling Nah (for photo-documentation of final work): www.activatedcstudio.blogspot.com

Sherman See-Tho & Wong Liyun (for photo-documentation of performance of ||| Movement (Shuffle):
www.mr-seetho.blogspot.com

Benjamin Low (for video-documentation of Shuffle's rehearsal 26 Nov 2011)

Mentorship / General Awesomeness


Xinyan Wu
Yunn Ee Chee


http://www.unbox.com.sg/

Willie Koh
Selwyn Low

Work-in-Progress 8 Oct 2011: The Steel Structures were moved to Stamford Green Site

Soundscape: Background

Like our original proposal for Plaza by the Park, we all felt it was crucial to retain a site-specific response within our proposal for the new space we acquired. The seeds of our new concept began to germinate when we considered the history of the site; this transitory space was where the Old National Library Building once stood. Much lamenting and heart-felt criticism has been expressed since its demolition in March 2004, so we felt we didn't want to dwell on the past too much and repeat what others have (rightly) said previously.

image from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Old_National_Library-Singapore.jpg 

Instead we began to conceive of the Old NLB's demise as a starting point to reflect upon the endless cycle of transformation within the city; this national icon's unfortunate end being a single chapter within a book about Singapore's development, as it spirals further into urbanity. As well as highlighting the theme of disappearance of local heritage, we wanted to tell other stories surrounding urbanisation too; the gradual decline of nature within the city, the loss of clarity within the urban soundscape, and the wider need to find sustainable approaches to our modern way of living.


Our team wanted to create an aural space for the audience to experience these themes, so we decided to create three zones within the final work - remembering, contemplating and transforming - which link together with notions of past, present and future respectively.

Soundscape: Remembering

Imagine

My aim was to create the impression of exploring an imaginary library with one's ears, as the listener sits between the shelf-like structures within this zone. The composition weaves its way through a series of recordings made at different libraries across Singapore, guiding the listener through the unique aural qualities and ambiances of places typically defined by their quietness or 'silence'. The listener moves through these libraries searching for different books: The books open, the pages turn and the listener's ears are momentarily plunged into imaginary sound worlds - some natural and contemplative, others mechanised and abrasive.

Use of Silence

The entire composition runs at 1 hour 27 mins, 3 cycles of 29 minutes. Each cycle of 29 minutes is identical barring one aspect; each is interspersed with silence at different points, determined by chance (more on this later). There are 5 durations of silence within each cycle (60, 30, 15, 10 and 5 seconds), totaling 2 minutes:

The use of silence is a key aspect to the form of the sound composition in all of the zones. In this zone, the total duration of silence refers to the notion of observing two minutes of silence out of respect for the Old National Library Building.

Another reason I chose to use silence is to encourage the audience to listen to the real soundscape that surrounds them and wake up to how hearing plays an extremely important role in how we perceive and interpret our environment. Before each segment of silence the listener hears a short, sharp "sshhh!" (as indicated in the visual score above), which marks the sudden shift in their aural focus from the composed to the real.
  
There is perhaps an interesting parallel between the use of silence and the fact that our team were asked to remove any reference to the Old NLB within the official write up for our work, so as not to upset certain people. Luckily, this isn't the official write up, so I feel obliged to tell you the truth. Isn't it apt that our site-specific proposal provoked a site-specific form of censorship!? The rather forceful sounding "sshhh!" assumes a different kind of relevance from this angle.

Memory Loss

When economic imperatives shape our concept of what it means for a city to grow, the delicate balance between place and memory is often put into jeopardy. The zeitgeist of expediency takes primacy over the preservation of so-called 'intangible' aspects of the cities we live in; places of social, cultural and historical importance are prone to vanishing, left to fade away in the uncertainty of memory. 

If we conceive of the built environment as being an extension of our collective conscious, then this self-induced amnesia threatens to sever our sense of identity through the removal of our shared heritage.

I do believe each generation should look towards its future and embrace change where necessary, but not through the erasure of our collective memories, which are intrinsically tied to place. In expressing the on-going cycle of transformation, ||| Movement attempts to re-connect these severed links within Singapore's urban psyche. It seeks to find a balance between past, present and future, a moment of equilibrium between nature, modernity and history.

Library Soundwalks

Here are a few raw audio recording of some of my library soundwalks:

The libraries which I have visited in Singapore exist in stark contrast to the bustling urban soundscape outside. Their well implemented sound insulation, combined with the veil of communal quietness, creates a distinctive listening experience defined by clarity. Every miniscule sound can be heard; scribbling pens, flickering books, children's happy feet.

Next time you find yourself in a library, focus on your listening and ask yourself what you can hear. If you close your eyes, do you hear things differently? Continue to listen intently when you leave the library and return outside (you might want to open your eyes before you do). How do the two sound environments compare?

Environments of such aural clarity are rare within cities. We should aspire towards creating more spaces like this.

Soundscape: Transforming

Mutant Urbanism

The piece within this zone reflects the dominant elements of Singapore's urban soundscape. It is comprised of a series of short compositions derived from various recordings of construction site machinery, transport / vehicles, and other typically urban sounds in Singapore.

  

 

The forms of the sounds in these compositions exist in a constant state of morphology - twisting and mutating towards an uncertain future. There is a variance from slight manipulation to severe alterations of the source material through digital editing techniques, sampling, and effects processing:

Even for the ‘severe' compositions, there is still some trace of the source of the sound, as to not obscure the potential meanings intended.

The overtly digital and unsubtle transformations of sounds within this zone perhaps mirror the fact that the impact of something like construction on the soundscape is very obvious. Also, the resulting timbre of such audio manipulation techniques are intrinsically tied to the digital; the framework that are lives are currently absorbed in. Through characterising the sounds in this way, they perhaps embody a sense of our increasing immersion within the digital technologies as we move towards the future.

Soundscape: Contemplating

Moments

I conceived of this zone as a platform for the sounds that often get drowned out, or even disappear, as a result of increasing urbanisation - the sounds of nature. I used a selection of recordings of different elements of Singapore's natural environments to encourage a moment of stillness within the listener: An internal space where they can contemplate their relationship to such sounds and reflect upon the lack of balance between natural sounds and man-made sounds within the urban environment.

I treated my sound material delicately once selected, as means of preserving the creatures / elements for which they represent and showing them respect. I applied minimal amounts of alteration to the recordings, simply shaping frequency content to gently shift the perspective of what is present within the recording.

Soundscape: Balance

Silent Chances

 

Singapore's soundscape, like most cities, is characterised by its high density; multiple layers of sound compete with one another to be heard by the listener as they pass through public spaces. 

 

 

In thinking about my approach to the compositions I asked myself this: In such a dense and intense sound environment would it be appropriate to introduce a continuous stream of new sounds? 

No: A better approach would be to utilise silence within the work, allowing space for the listener to experience the real soundscape that surrounds them. Between the Transforming and Contemplating zones, there is as much silence as there is composed audio:

 

In the above images, the gaps between waveforms denote a period of silence.

Many of the transitions between the short compositions and silence happen gradually, which will hopefully have the aural effect of an incremental slippage from the illusory to the real. The periods of silence were determined through simple chance operations using Max MSP:

Indeed, it is the real soundscape that I think we should wake up to. Hopefully the methods applied in this work will help stimulate the audience in to active listening to the acoustic environment.

 

Workshop

Introduction: Acoutic Ecology

One of the main influences of our work is Acoustic Ecology, defined by R M Schafer as:

…the study of the effects of the acoustic environment or SOUNDSCAPE on the physical responses or behavioural characteristics of creatures living within it. Its particular aim is to draw attention to imbalances which may have unhealthy or inimical effects.

Positive Soundscapes from wimrc on Vimeo.

If you're interested in Singapore's acoustic environment, you may like to take a closer look at the project I embarked upon last year, Sacred Soundscapes; an immersive audio-visual installation exploring the significance of sacred sounds in the context of Singapore’s contemporary soundscape:

http://sacredsoundscapes.wordpress.com/

References

Schafer, R. M. (1977) The Soundscape: Our Sonic Environment & the Tuning of the World, Vermont: Destiny Books

Changes

The title of our installation is III Movement ―where movement can imply both the physical and the aural movements in a compositional piece. The ‘III’ has an abstract reference to book shelves that is incorporated into the design of the art installation at the site where the (former) National Library of Singapore was situated.


The materials for this installation comprise salvaged construction "waste" procured from nearby construction sites that reflects our considerations for conservation of material resources as an appropriate and sustainable design strategy in response to the temporal course of the installation. These materials are then crafted into a volumetric and visual rhythmic composition, while performing synchronously as a receptacle of sounds for the audience to the chosen site, Bras Basah.Bugis and beyond. This integrative treatment of the visual, aural and architectonic materiality therefore highlights the physical articulation of our collaborative proposal for this public art installation as an urban intervention.


One interesting point to bring up was the irony of the changes of the site of our initial proposal at Plaza By The Park. The Plaza By The Park (PBP) site is an interesting plot of land sandwiched between the PBP Carpark and Kopitiam, a food court. We are very much intrigued by this overlooked/leftover/disregarded space. We learnt that it was owned by an old lady who refused to sell the land. It remained untouched (only covered with gravels) for years until LTA takes over it for the current MRT construction. In fact, many changes have taken place in that area since we submitted our initial proposal. One of the most obvious changes is the removal of almost all the trees along Bencoolen Street on the side of the PBP site to make way for the construction.

We chose the PBP site because we thought it was the best site to discuss our concerns about the lack of balance between human-made sounds and that of nature in the city's soundscape. It would have also provided a possibility as to how such a public space can be activated. We think it could become a sanctuary for people to contemplate on these issues through active listening of sounds in the Bras Basah.Bugis area, and thus titled it The Aural Sanctuary.


The idea of using construction wastes was actually inspired by the Plaza by The Park site. The gravels covering the ground of the site would have become the ‘ready’ material for the construction of our sanctuary’s walls. We intended to return it back to the site after the exhibition is over.

Therefore, it came as a shock that we had to abandon the site, almost immediately after we learnt that our proposal was selected by the Hub- to-Hub curators. When it became clear that we definitely could not use the site for our installation (in fact, a few of the sites listed for proposal could not be used later because of urban development - one other good example is the site opposite Selegie Centre), we embarked on a search for a new site around the Bras Basah.Bugis area. We found quite a few disregarded/unused/overlooked sites in the area during our walking trips. It was a great city study on foot, and we must say the experience was enriching and an eye-opener. It took us about 4 weeks to settle on our current site. And because the site has changed, the context of our proposal has to change a little. The current site is now a transitory space. It is already a sanctuary with flora and fauna. Thus, the sanctuary idea has to be dropped. However, the part about environmental sustainability and the reuse of construction waste remains.

Map

Our installation, ||| Movement, can be found next to the National Museum of Singapore, by the escalators that lead to Stamford Green.