Expedition Logbook – Documentation #1

Expedition
Logbook
Sound
Development
City
Summer
Expedition
2013
Lisboa –
Marseille
Documentation
1
Sound
Development
City
work material and playground
all at once. What audible and
palpable sounds do the cities giveoff ? What kind of perceptions
and feelings do they inspire? And
how can specific social, aesthetic,
Sound Development City 2013
was the second iteration of this
political and economic phenomena
artistic summer expedition. After be expressed and reflected upon
having visited London, Berlin and with artistic means?
Zurich in 2012, the 2013 edition
As cities with commercial
brought together 13 international trade ports, both played historically
artists on an expedition to and
strategic roles in the discovery
troughout Lisboa and Marseille.
of new territories—and in their
From September 23rd until
colonization. Since the end
October 9th, artists from Austria, of colonialism in the 1960s, both
Argentina, Canada, France,
Lisboa and Marseille have been
Germany, Portugal, South Africa, confronted with social and ecoSwitzerland and the USA, worknomic tensions, as well as negative
ing in the fields of sound, music,
demographics, both of which
performance and urban spaces,
peaked during the current financial
brought nine artistic projects to life. crisis. In addition, both cities
were in focus in 2013 as European
The journey between the
cities was undertaken individually. Capital of Culture (Marseille)
and as host of the Architecture
The artists traveled from one city
Triennale (Lisboa), of which
to the other via different routes
Sound Development City 2013
and various means of transportation. This transitional phase marked was an associated project.
a shift within the expedition’s
The artists worked in and interprogress, allowing for reflection on acted with Lisboa and Marseille
the previous work process and an
while realizing their own projects.
adjustment thereof.
The cities were explored on the
search for work material; they were
The artists were chosen from over stages and open spaces. The
200 applicants based on their
participants formed an expedition
proposals. The jury consisted of
group and a network, reflected
Muda Mathis (Basel), Christine
on each other’s work and triggered
Bouvier (Marseille), Manuel
new thoughts.
Henriques (Lisboa), Martin Heller
The expedition and the work pro(Zurich, Heller Enterprises)
gress were documented in several
and Gabriel Bachmann (Zurich,
ways. The Sound Development
Sound Development).
City team produced a 30-minute
radio program with each artist,
The expedition was centered
on the theme “Dancing Partners”, broadcast from the expedition’s
mother ship, the Radio Bus. The
which served both as metaphor
radio transmissions were broadand instructions for the participants. Which artistic methods can casted daily on Lisboa’s “Radio
Zero” and were also made available
set things in motion? How can
as podcasts.
the city be used as both work
Finally, a logbook website
material and stage? What do the
developed by Astrom /Zimmer
two Southern European harbor
cities of Lisboa and Marseille have allowed the artists to post texts,
in common? Where do artistic
thoughts images, sketches, snippets,
strategies need to be adjusted in
sound pieces and videos onto a
order to create resonance in a
collective expedition diary through
specific urban space?
their own websites, blogs and
social media channels. Thus, a
The two cities, Lisboa and Marcollabo­rative expedition logbook
seille, were to be perceived
was created that allowed an
three-fold: as realm of experience, interested audience to follow the
About
projects’ progress and experience
the expedition. The content
found on the following pages was
generated daily by the Sound
Development City team and
published on the logbook website.
Sound Development City is a
pro­ject by Sound Development, in
collaboration with Heller Enterprises (Zurich). It is financed by
Sound Development and put into
practice by Heller Enterprises.
Sound Development City
Summer Expedition 2013
Lisboa – Marseille
2013 expedition participants & projects:
Wolfgang Dorninger (AT) text2field-recordings
Jane Garver (US) Voice Box
Maiden Monsters (DE) Krise ist Kult — the Sound of Crisis
Malose Malahlela (ZA) Third Space
Lucas Norer (AT/ NL) The Lisbon Route Project
Jen Reimer (CA) & Max Stein (US / CA) Tunnelmusik
François Tariq Sardi (FR) The Dream Committee
Valeria Schwarz (AR /DE) P.O.S.T. — People
Organized for Spontaneous Transfers
Ana Bigotte Vieira (PT) & Sandra Lang (CH)
Jeux Sans Frontières
Sound Development City team (Heller Enterprises):
Gesa Schneider Project Direction
Andalus Project Direction
Nicholas Schärer Communications
Lukas Amacher Radio Bus
Ruth Lang Intern
Julia Albani Production Lisboa, Media
Teresa Baumeister Production Lisboa
Ina Studenroth Production Marseille, Media
Prologue — Does undertaking expeditions still make sense
in our day and age? We’ve climbed the highest mountain
peak, dived into the deepest sea; the most distant spots of the
planet have been explored and measured.
A member of an expedition is traditionally an explorer
or an adventurer. Driven by the ambition to be the first
to make a discovery or to achieve a goal, he or she accepts
major physical and emotional austerities, often the
risk of death. Another group of people who, historically
and still today, go on expeditions are people in need,
driven by economic, political or ecologic circumstances
to embark on a journey with an unknown ending.
Sound Development City, as an artistic project, is
hardly comparable to these extreme examples. Yet the term
“expedition” is central and correct for defining our project.
We are interested precisely in the state of being that
occurs when a journey takes an unknown course to an
undetermined result. The journey creates a processlike situation on the outside that makes us use our senses
differently, hopefully more intensely. We aim to realize
specific, location-dependent projects. Existing and fieldtested works gain new impulses. The nomadic, constantly
on-the-go situation helps us to locate deep-seated
patterns of work and thought, and identify deadlocks.
It enables new thoughts and ideas. Also, getting to know
the other artists and their topics is intensified through
collective travels, experiences and works. Therefore,
our chosen format of an expedition can be seen as a trip
to inner borders and unknown zones of the mind.
The expedition was documented based on the idea
of a “logbook”, on the “Expedition” (E) page. At the
same time, the artists documented the progress of their
projects and their experiences on the “Projects” (P) page.
Gesa Schneider & Andalus, project directors
http://2013.sound-development-city.com
Expedition
Logbook
Day 1
Lisboa, September 23, 2013 — The
artists and the Sound Development
City team have arrived in Portugal‘s
Atlantic harbor city from all cardinal
directions. During the next three
weeks, 13 international artists will form
an expedition group, exploring the
sound of the cities Lisboa and Marseille
while interacting, dancing, with
their inhabitants. We are setting up our
working space at an ancient palace
near Campo Santa Clara. The building
has quite a history:
“The Sinel de Cordes Palace was
built in the mid-18th century by the
Sinel de Cordes family. In the mid-19th
century, the building was acquired
by the 1st Viscount Correia Godinho. In
the 1930s and until 2006, the palace
functioned as an elementary school. It
would remain closed until 2012, when
the arrival of the Triennale prompted
a rekindling of public and institutional
interest for this striking building.”
Perhaps we will hear the voices of
these bygone inhabitants of the building. For the coming week, our headquarters will be in two beautiful rooms
of the palace, our main quarters are
in what used to be the ballroom. This
seems to be a perfect match, as our
theme for this year‘s expedition is Dancing Partners! Our Radio Bus is parked
below the balcony. We salute the imaginary crowd below and try to find
solutions for getting electricity from
here to there. These are the challenges
of modern inhabitation. Wifi and
wires: without these 2 elements, our
projects will not come to life.
http://2013.sound-development-city.
com/projects
Day 2
Lisboa, September 24, 2013 — Day
two of our expedition in Lisboa started
out with short presentations of all
participating artists:
The Maiden Monsters will
be searching for the sound of crisis to
distill it into a song of crisis. They have
already left some traces online with
videos documenting their search,
which has begun with their departure
from Berlin.
We listened to two songs with Jane
Garver, songs that she’s recorded by
asking passers-by to sing, one in Atlanta,
and one here in Lisboa. It is a subtle
but challenging way to interact with
people.
Lucas Norer gave us an introduction to the Lisbon Route Project and the
interventions and interactions he is
intending to have. Making this historic
route and its gateways visible, he
asks questions about awareness, homeland and retrospection.
Valeria Schwarz has already started
to set up her alternative communication system between the cities, a senderrecipient network based on trust and
good intentions.
François Tariq Sardi will find ways
to discover hidden layers of the city
by going on walks with architects, artists and urbanists. His one-on-one
encounters are journeys to the unexpected—for himself, too.
Wolfgang Dorninger ’s workshop
starts the following day. With his
participants, he will conduct field
recordings in the city, to then use the
material for a sound composition
based on written statements on the
sound of the city.
Malose Malahlela will map sound
walks from Johannesburg to Lisboa and
Marseille, opening up a Third Space
in the listener’s imagination.
Ana Bigotte Vieira and Sandra
Lang are about to produce the second
edition of their Jeux Sans Frontières
magazine, and organize an independent
book fair on the following Saturday.
Expedition
Logbook
Jen Reimer and Max Stein will
create site-specific audiovisual works
in resonant and sonically dynamic
locations; their first one takes place the
following day in an old water cistern
in Lisboa.
Working on topics
around sound, urban spaces,
environment, crisis or
intimacy, the artists share
the same intention: to
explore the various states
and dependencies of
the cities we travel through,
while working with the
settings found on site.
We are defining the hurdles
we intend to overcome
— language, mindsets
and reality. This, in order to
produce precise pieces,
mapping the open fields
and the in-betweens.
The second day of the expedition
also brings the first radio transmission from the Sound Development City
Radio Bus. We rode the howling bus
through the narrow streets of Lisboa.
In our mother ship, we interviewed
Malose Malahlela on his work, his background and the division lines between
being a sound artist and a curator / networker. Riding on the Radio Bus is
like being on a boat, moving and adapting to the movements while talking
and observing the city and the Teijo at
the same time.
The radio transmission was aired
and broadcast online every evening
at 7:30 PM CET.
http://2013.sound-development-city.
com/projects/artists/8/dates/
Day 3
Lisboa, September 25, 2013 — It’s
drizzling, everything is slippery and
grey. We’re starting to understand the
melancholy of the city and its slow
decay. We come across the sound of the
Fado, and not only in the touristic areas.
Wolfgang ’fadi’ started his workshop as a part of his project “text2field-recordings” today by instructing
his eight participants on how to
use microphones and record sound.
The Maiden Monsters started to meander through the streets of Lisboa in
search of crisis. They collect views,
statements, hook lines and melodies. At
this moment, they are following the
mayor’s campaign, in order to persuade
him to contribute to the song of crisis.
Later tonight, we will all gather at Mae
D’Agua, a beautiful old water cistern,
for a Tunnelmusik performance by Jen
Reimer & Max Stein. It’s exciting to
see our expedition is expanding, spreading out into the alleys and niches of
the city.
Day 4
Lisboa, September 26, 2013 — Max
and Jen’s performance yesterday at
the Mae D’Agua was truly striking, and
it is still resonating within us. It was
quite an experience, visually and
acoustically. The cistern had a natural
reverb of around 10 seconds. Jen &
Max’s slowly moving sonic drones
perfectly unfolded in this space.
We haven’t seen much of the participants today, as they are scattered
all over the city, collecting sounds, information, impressions. We are here at
the Trienniale headquarters, organizing
the presentation day on Saturday.
It is quiet on Campo Santa Clara, the
buzz of the city seems very far away.
The sea appears to be nearer; seagulls
pass from time to time. In the area,
there are a few antiquarians, one or two
cafés, and very few tourists, otherwise
it is calm. The palace feels like a
ship slowly drifting in between centuries and stuck in a place that was, at
some time, very much alive. Right now,
it seems very plausible that it could
take another decade or two before
gentrification hits here.
Day 5
Lisboa, September 27, 2013 — There
has been a shift since we’ve stopped
counting days. We have now become a
temporary working group and expe­
dition team. Our artists have taken the
plunge and are working on their projects, adapting the concepts and ideas
to the realities found on the streets
and niches of Lisboa. It is evident that
the actual place is of great importance.
As input, it influences both the physi­cal framework, as well as the mindset.
Somehow, as different as the
projects are, it is their hybridity that
defines them. This state of in-between
seems to be an aspect that could
describe the artists and the way they
work, as well as their stance on the
world.
Last night, an enormous thunderstorm swept over the city, throwing
waves of growling thunder through the
darkness—it seemed as if the sound
waves froze in the air. They could almost
be touched.
It is this energy that we’re putting
into our last days in Lisboa before
we embark on the journey to Marseille,
individually. There will be a rather
upscale fair and presentation tomorrow
at the headquarters of the Lisbon
Architecture Triennale, right next to
the widely known Feira da Ladra.
There will be performances, installations, sound, radio, music, a book
fair and a travel office from 9AM until
11PM.
Day 6
Lisboa, September 28, 2013 —
Lisboa! We said goodbye to you with a
fair of sounds, music, books, performances, radio. We carried our projects
out to the Feira da Ladra, where the
long-established Lisboa meets wandering
tourists. Malose Malahlela mapped
his Johannesburg sound walk on the
market, and the Maiden Monsters held
three-on-one sessions in the “Cult of
Crisis tour bus”. The weather had only
been on our side partly, sunny moments were blown away repeatedly by
the wind bringing clouds and rain. The
Jeux Sans Frontières book fair by Sandra
Lang and Ana Bigotte Vieira was set
up in the courtyard. It hadn’t rained for
3 months before our arrival, so when
we had to organize tents for the fair, we
felt the relief of the small staff we’d
hired. Even with the tents, however, a
part of the fair had to be set up inside.
The other projects were presented
both indoor and outdoor. We turned
our work space into an exhibition room.
Valeria Schwarz found several porters
for her messages to Marseille at the fair
and a henna tattoo artist transformed
the temporary P.O.S.T. office into a telegraphy office of sorts. François Tariq
Sardi’s four channel sound installation
in the palace created a timeless soundscape in the dark. Jane Garver suc­
ceeded to collect several recordings,
overcoming the language barrier. The
recordings were distributed in the hallways and rooms of the palace we
had been working in during the past
week. Lucas Norer set up his pylons in
the park across the street. Listening
closely to the pylon’s openings you could
dive into the stories hidden inside.
The final radio show from Lisboa
with Jen Reimer and Max Stein was
broadcast live from the radio bus: Gesa
interviewed them on their experiences during the week, and together,
they summed up the first part of the
expedition.
Wolfgang Dorninger closed his
workshop by creating sound containers
Expedition
Logbook
Madrid by now; François Tariq Sardi
is still in Lisboa working on his piece
and meeting architects, urban planners
and musicians to take him across
the city. He just published Part 1 of his
Dream Committee. Wolfgang Dorninger
is heading to Madrid to do some
recordings in parks, as he had started
doing in Lisboa during the week.
The Radio Bus had to go to the repair
shop. We see it as the first signs of
Lisboa, September 29, 2013 —
fatigue that we hope will pass quickly.
Sunday night in Lisboa. We’ve packed
Gesa arrived in San Sebastian,
our equipment and loaded the bus.
The week in Lisboa has been an intense and is heading to Marseille via Biarritz
and Bordeaux. It is astonishingly
and challenging time for all of us.
complicated, and expensive, to travel
by any means other than by plane,
as Lisboa seems to be on the fringe of
Europe. She writes:
“On the night train I met a reporter. She interviewed me about the ‘why’
of my journey. She was taking the
same route as many Portuguese emigrants in the sixties, who were searching for work in France. They would
never come back. I learned from her
that this route is called Sue Express,
and it was a direct link between St.
Petersburg and Lisboa at the beginning
The expedition has reached its
of the century!”
second phase: the artists undertake
the trip to Marseille individually. It’s a
moment to step back and let things
settle down. The expedition is moving
Journey, October 1, 2013 — News
eastwards on various routes — by train,
from the Lisboa front: luckily, the
by car, maybe even on foot.
Radio Bus could be repaired within a
We’re delighted to have been guests
day. The mechanics quickly managed
of the Lisbon Architecture Triennale:
to find a replacement for the broken
not only did the work space turn
part, so we’re all set for the journey to
out to be an ideal setting, we were also
Marseille. Driving the Radio Bus
lucky to have enriching encounters
feels like it was new. We will leave
in work situations, and at the dining
Lisboa early in the morning, and as we
table. For the next couple of days, we’ll
depart, the weather is about to change
be following the participants’ journeys
back to sunshine again. Images and
on their blogs and we’re eager to
notes have been reaching us from San
find out the stories they’ll have to tell.
Sebastian, Madrid, Barcelona and
Biarritz: explorations and sound clips,
like Lucas Norer’s comment on
the state and sound of borders within
Europe: “Passing through Spain as
light passes through glass.”
https://soundcloud.com/lucas-norer/
the-lisbon-route-project-2
out of the recorded sounds of the week.
These were played out to the public
after dusk, projecting statements about
“the sound of the city” onto the wall.
This allowed for a beautiful conclusion
of our Lisboa week: “Lisboa sounds
like a collective dress we all wear.”
Day 7
The artists’ projects have
grown through the work
process in the city. Placed
in an unknown framework
away from one’s usual
networks, the projects and
ideas are being stripped
down to their core. From
there, they evolve.
Day 9
Day 8
Journey, September 30, 2013 — Our
group has spread out and we try to
keep track on their whereabouts. The
Maiden Monsters must have left
1 Preparing
the Radio Bus for Sound Development City 2013
2 Jen
Reimer & Max Stein performing at Mãe D’Água, Lisboa
3 Lucas
Norer setting up “The Lisbon Route Project” in Marseille
4 Somewhere
between Lisboa and Marseille
5 Maiden
Monsters learning a dance at Feira da Ladra, Lisboa
6 Live
on air from the Sound Development City Radio Bus
7 The
expedition group on a walk with Nicolas Memain
8 Malose
Malahlela on a “Third Space” walk in Marseille
Expedition
Logbook
Day 10
Journey, October 2, 2013 — On the
night train, Gesa reflected on traveling,
listening and dancing:
“One thing is for sure, that to really
reflect on things, you need time and
distance—distance that’s both mental
and physical. Our journey is well advanced; I am on the train traveling from
Biarritz to Marseille. Night is falling,
many thoughts have crossed my mind,
in a blur, in a rush, not one single
thought has formed itself in order to
develop and stay.
“How these travels might have an
impact on the projects is to be seen in
Marseille. What’s definitely true is
that the planning of a journey without
considering an airplane as an option
—one of the rules we’ve formulated—is
time-consuming. There are so many
possibilities, and how to be sure to take
“the road less traveled by”?”
Day 11
Journey, October 3, 2013 — A report
from the Sound Development City
Radio Bus: We’ve left Lisboa three days
ago, leaving behind a city that we had
explored with our ears and eyes
wide open. The city was once a gate to
the world for those who left Europe
behind. We, on the other hand, are driving the Radio Bus the other way, back
east. The mother ship is a vessel from a
time long gone: the traveling speed is
awareness of the world
slower than that of modern cars, buses
through the ears. I like this idea, and
and trucks. On the highways to Malots of projects have taken that as a
drid, Barcelona and now Marseille, the
guiding theme. The Maiden Monsters,
Radio Bus is always the slowest. The
as well as Lucas Norer, collect
interior of the bus moves and shakes as
stories about the present and past of
we drive—it’s almost as if the mother
Europe. Malose superimposes different
ship is continuously creating a soundstories of Johannesburg onto Europe,
track to the routes we’re taking.
collecting new ones while here. François
The rattling, the constant growl of the
as well is meeting people to let them
engine, the clacking cupboard doors;
tell him their stories about the city
these sounds outdo all other sounds.
they’re in. Research and transformation,
research and critique. Observation
and poetry. Paying attention to places
and discovering, uncovering their
secrets, as in Jen Reimer’s and Max
Stein’s work; listening and recording
the sounds of the city itself, as in
Wolgang’s work; finding a way of
realizing an alternative message-sending
system, as in Valeria’s playful project;
or trying to find a different way of
telling the story of Europe, as in Ana
Journey, October 4, 2013 — Andalus
and Sandra’s approach. All of these
on his experiences on the night train
projects are characterized by careful
to Marseille:
observation and playful critique.
“After many years, I’m back on a
night train again, lying on a couch
all of the works require
for four people. You can’t really see that
partners, spontaneous encounters
it’s a business class car. The rolling
in foreign cities, and the willingness
stock is notably from an older generato lose balance.
tion, the mood of the travelers seems to
be dull. The light is dimmed low at
as early as 10 PM. The glamorous bar I
of course, it feels like
luxury to travel with a bit of time, and remembered from my last trip in a
rolling hotel has been disestablished.
with the following self-imposed
Instead of Whiskey, there’s mineral
constraint: Think! Write! Record!
water, non-sparkling, from a vending
Observe! Be an explorer!
Listening:
Day 12
Dancing:
Travels:
Expedition
Logbook
machine, and smoking is now prohibited. The almost absurdly short train
consists of five wagons—it reminds me
more of a rolling Salvation Army dorm
room than a glistering party flash of
past nights. Thereby I’m traveling on a
stretch that has fired the literary imag­
ination of generations and was depicted
thousand fold: Paris — Nice… what
have you become?
The underlying logic is clear:
budget flights have taken over global
travel. For daytime travel, train companies have kept their own thanks to
high-speed trains and locations of train
stations in the middle of the cities. But
what has become of the night trains?
My hunger and the nicotine-addicted
receptors in my brain drive me out of
my cabin, to explore this rolling dormitory. Doing this, I’ve found the best
parties in Berlin of the early 90s, so a
cold beer should have to be findable!
After two minutes, I find the sad relics
of this industrial high culture. Two
primitive robots, filled with overpriced,
global junk food are placed in a corner
to satisfy the travelers’ needs. I had
hoped to find out more about my invis­
ible fellow passengers. Who is traveling
with me? The answer is only to be
guessed by adding the impressions of the
scampering shadows with my two
cabin neighbors and a bit of life experience, plus a lot of clichés:
The invisible are traveling with me. Those who
don’t want to be seen at
airports. On the night train,
everything is dealt with
in a direct and anonymous
way. No identity is needed
to be on board, and the
conductors are willing to be
talked to, in case there
should be any problems.
This train is small, but
discreet.
Day 13
Marseille, October 5, 2013 — The
Sound Development City expedition
participants have traveled some
1800 kilometers on various routes. The
experiences have been various: some
took time to meet up with friends
along the way, some continued to work
in Lisboa and then did the travel in one
go. Most of those who’ve traveled by
night train or night bus share Andalus’
experience—the character of long
overland travel has changed. It seems
as if the travel itself has lost much of
its importance. Instead, the parameters
of arrival and speed have gained importance.
We’ve set up our headquarters in
office containers at La Friche Belle
de Mai. For now, we’re sharing stories
of the travels, inspiration we found
on the way. We hope to arrive in
Marseille as we did in Lisboa, find the
doors to enter the city and interact
with the people we encounter.
Day 14
Marseille, October 6, 2013 — The
expedition has been showing its effects
on the team and the participants.
Working on projects in two cities within three weeks demands a high level of
concentration and dedication, as well
as openness towards the circumstances.
The end of the expedition is coming
closer very quickly, there are only two
more work days left before the final
presentation at La Friche Belle de Mai.
I order an orange soda and a pack La Friche lies at the south end of the
northern part of Marseille, which
of chips from the robots. This way I
breathes in a noticeably rougher way
can at least imagine I’m having a beer
and decent bratwurst. I’ll have a smoke than the southern parts. It’s as if
the city exists in at least two parallel
at the next stop, and then drift off.”
worlds. We’ve been scouting out the
possibilities of the venue, looking
for ideal settings to present the projects
that are strongly based on process.
Day 15
Marseille, October 7, 2013 — A walk
through Belle de Mai with Nicolas
Memain. Nicolas Memain is a selfproclaimed “street jockey”, a guide to
urban nature and built areas. We
start our tour at Friche Belle de Mai,
Rue François Simon, stop in front
of the old maternity building, now
abandoned, a wonderful yellow building
hidden behind a park, then walk
along Bld. Richard, then continue in
Traverse Séry, a very old street, a
goat street, as Nicolas calls it, narrow.
We suddenly feel like we’re in a village, it is incredibly quiet and peaceful.
We stop in front of a small monastery: about 15 nuns must still live there,
they never leave the place. Never
ever. We see an old car leaving it. It
has the same color as the building,
something between yellow and brown,
not beige. A color cars don’t have
anymore.
How to describe a place, how to
feel a place, how to apprehend a place,
how to make it your own: Nicolas
Memain’s walk is all about the texture
of the things, the skin of the buildings, the structure and the subtle differences in the appearances, things you
wouldn’t notice otherwise.
Reading a place by
observing its different
surfaces, relating them to
the time that passes and
the memory that gets lost.
It’s a drifting process, an
investigation into the
things that are seen and
usually not noticed, as
if the secret meaning is
hidden on the surface and
not behind it.
A very different way of looking is
given to us, as we continue in this
small area of the city, into a newly
abandoned squat, along a huge former
casern that looks like a castle (plans
have been made to house the art school
in there), along the street that heads
back to La Friche. Nicolas’ inner
knowledge of the spaces opens new perceptions for us as well, combining
space, time, surfaces and subjectivity.
Day 16
Marseille, October 8, 2013 — Today
is the last day before the final pres­
entation of Sound Development City 2013,
so it’s a busy day for everybody: the
locations of all performances and
installations need to be determined and
approved by the direction of La Friche
and the technical set-ups have to be
defined. Movements of searching and
finding are going on.
Jane Garver will set up her voice
boxes around La Friche Belle de
Mai, bringing the intimate moments she
collected in public space back to the
streets.
The Maiden Monsters are rehearsing, editing, writing, and composing.
They will perform their 25-minute long
“Song of Crisis” based on the recordings made along the way.
Wolfgang, still hunting for new
sounds, recorded the breath of Marseille
at the coast with one of his workshop
participants. He is completing his sound
containers and preparing to throw
back the sound of Marseille into the city
night, creating another layer of hearing
the environment.
François Tariq Sardi has completed
his interviews and recordings, he’s
collected the dreams of Lisboa and
Marseille based artists, architects and
urbanists. These he is adding into a
multi-channel installation. He’s sitting
in front of his computer editing
sounds and voices until his ears seem
to explode.
Valeria headed to a bus terminal
for her last P.O.S.T. mission. We
are eager to find out how many messages of Valeria Schwarz’ project P.O.S.T.
have reached their destination.
Jen Reimer and Max Stein are
Expedition
Logbook
doing research in a nearby car and
pedestrian tunnel. They are preparing to
do a generator powered performance
in a tunnel nearby. This performance
will be something completely different
compared to the concert-like setting in
Lisboa.
Lucas Norer has completed his
interviews, field recordings and research and will set up his installation
“The Lisbon Route” on the deck of
our containers, overlooking La Friche.
Malose is figuring out alternative
ways to merge the inner city of
Johannesburg with the streets around
La Belle de Mai. Malose is adjusting
his sound walks of Johannesburg
and mapping them onto Marseille. For
the presentation, he will conduct a
sound walk to the surrounding area.
Ana Bigotte Vieira and Sandra
Lang will display their project “Jeux
sans Frontières” at the final presentation
on Wednesday. They are seeking
Chinese working suits, pins, cables,
translations in French, copy shops or
coffee breaks. In the evening, Sandra
& Ana are presenting the documentary
film BAB SEPTA, a Portuguese film
project about the topic of migration and
the European borders. The film and
the following discussion show another
dimension linked to the history of
colonial expeditions revealing the
economic impact of today’s migratory
movements.
different characters. Lisboa’s great his­
tory can be felt very clearly when
you walk on the city’s streets, and there
seems to be the space and calmness
that is necessary for ideas to grow.
Marseille’s first impression is it‘s busyness, there is the stigma of competition
in the air.
The artists travel to and work
in these cities together, they leave their
usual environment behind and form
this temporary group. Of course,
the cities have a great influence on the
work, but the mere fact of changing
the setting is just as important.
Lisboa and Marseille
trigger different patterns,
carry different flavors of
inspiration. All of these
factors create an entangled
contact surface, sometimes
resistance, that enables
ideas to evolve.
The format of the expedition
calls for a specific type of artist. One
needs to be open to the new, have a
non­committal, exploratory spirit. But
at the same time, it’s important to
reflect and transcribe one’s experiences into the working process. It’s a
completely different setting, one
leaves behind the usual daily routines
and distractions.
It seems to be important to have a
temporary headquarter, a physical
place to come back to after a day of
exploring. It’s where exchange happens,
it’s the material storage, and it enables interaction with a local cultural
scene, even if only potentially. It is up
to the artists to define what they make
of the situation. A lot of processes
are only initiated on the expedition and
will unfold in the coming weeks, or
Marseille, October 9, 2013 —
even months.
Gabriel and Gianmarco from Sound
This is what we’re interested in:
Development had visited the expedition
to break oneself away from the
in Lisboa and have now joined us in
Marseille for the final presentation. We predominant product and performance
orientation, to deal with the processes.
talked to them about the impressions
It’s an attempt to detach oneself from
they’ve been collecting. This is our
traditional mechanisms and habits
summary of the talk:
“Lisboa and Marseille are both old —and this is important for the artists,
as well as the Sound Development
cities, harbor cities; they have the
City team. The format aims to prevent
stigma of traveling, arrival and departarget orientation; it creates an openture. Still, they are less similar than
ness for ideas to grow.”
one would expect, they have very
Day 17
Epilogue — Multiples paths, a common experience,
and willingness to explore.
Being able to experiment in the larger artistic field
and at the same time have founders who anticipate
or expect specific results is not common. This means that
artistic work and exploration can be taken seriously,
not as an added value, but as a tool of investigation and
learning. Allowing to imagine an ideal state is the
inherent chance of such an experiment: using an old
format, the expedition, to claim that there are still many
things to discover. Exploring and reflecting on cities
and sound is a way to ask bigger questions: How does
a city sound? How does the crisis influence our everyday
life? How do people interact? To these questions,
very individual but still universal answers were found.
Lisboa and Marseille became realms of manifold
stories to be found and heard, a point of view only
explorers can achieve. The artistic projects did not only
deal with urban spaces, the cities also served as material
and stage. The participants brought their projects
to life with their specific focus, but still interacted with
and reacted to each other. The expedition’s topic,
“Dancing Partners”, was reflected on several levels: interchange between the participants, new connections
within and between the projects, interventions in
the cities’ spaces and in forming new artistic friendships.
Being on an expedition is an enriching collective
experience that demands an adjustment of artistic practices and strategies, evolution of ideas and a focus
on observation and reflection. These processes continue
after the expedition. By this, Sound Development City
proves to be a valuable experience that expands the
ideal of an artistic expedition to the artist’s work practices
beyond the expedition itself. Gesa Schneider & Andalus, project directors
Culture in the Open
By Gabriel Bachmann, CEO Sound Development
Sound Development City is an experimental expedition, and in that sense it is a project that relates to the
philosophy of Sound Development. As a non-commercial,
privately funded initiative for culture based in Zurich
and founded, in 2002, by Nia Schmidheiny and myself,
we help artists to realize their visions, and we initiate and
realize our own projects which aim to inspire and create
something new. Sound Development City is conceived
as an adventure, following our Mission Statement
to “produce and support cultural projects in the open”.
The annual expedition addresses like-minded artists
and cultural activists from around the world who
agitate, provoke and stimulate with fresh, interdisciplinary
ideas. The format of the expedition calls for a specific
type of artist: one needs to be open to the new and have
a noncommittal, exploratory spirit. But at the same
time, it’s important to reflect on one’s experiences and
transcribe them into the work process. The members
of the group each embark on their own expedition,
traveling and exploring at their own pace, with their own
specific focus. It’s up to the artists to define what they
make of the situation. The group, however, is important
as network, as cooperators, potential collaborators
and as source of inspiration. One of the main questions
is how does the setting influence one’s work?
This is what we’re interested in—to detach from
the predominant orientation towards product and
performance in order to deal with the processes instead.
Sound Development City is an attempt to break with
traditional mechanisms and habits. The format aims to
prevent target orientation; rather, it creates openness
for ideas to grow. More information on www.sound-development.com
About Sound Development
Technical
Specifications
“Sound Development
City Expedition 2013”
1 Zoom H4
1 Zoom H4n
1 Zoom H2n
2 microphone boom
1 Canon 5D Mark II
2 tripods
various microphones (Rode,
Shure, Sennheiser, Audio
Technica, Sony)
1 wireless microphone AKG
6 DVD players
3 HD monitors
1 portable tv 7"
1 camcorder
11 headphones
4 wireless headphones
2 audio mixers
1 microamp
2 1TB hard drives
1 Logitech audiosystem
6 radios
10 MP3 players
1 webcam
Cables
Audio cables
Adapters
3D glasses
1 video projector
ADAM A7 studio monitors
Soundcard Mbox USB
Electric drill
Soundcard Digigram
Loudspeaker stand
IBM laptop
Samson compressor
Soundcard RME Fireface
Soundcard Audio 2
Toolbox
Megaphone
Wind deflector Rode
DI Box Pro
DI Box Behringer
DI Box Stereo Art
DI Box Stereo Pro
Lights
Headphone amp Distro
Behringer
Printer HP 5510
Brother P-Touch
Radio Bus
Mercedes 410
Hymer CL 665FM transmitter
Streaming laptop
Audio mixer Mackie VLZ 1404
Compressor
Microphones Shure SM58
SM58beta
Rote NT2
Monitors
Headphones
Recording device Edirol R09
Playout device Pioneer
CDJ400
Cables
Adapters
Generator
Custom made studio table by
Flavio Morganti
2013 expedition
participants & projects
Wolfgang Dorninger (AT)
text2field-recordings
Documentation 2
Jane Garver (US)
Voice Box Documentation 3
Maiden Monsters (DE)
Krise ist Kult — the Sound of
Crisis Documentation 4
Malose Malahlela (ZA)
Third Space Documentation 5
Lucas Norer (AT/NL)
The Lisbon Route Project
Documentation 6
Jen Reimer (CA)
& Max Stein (US/CA)
Tunnelmusik Documentation 7
François Tariq Sardi (FR)
The Dream Committee
Documentation 8
Valeria Schwarz (AR /DE)
P.O.S.T. — People Organized
for Spontaneous Transfers
Documentation 9
Ana Bigotte Vieira (PT)
& Sandra Lang (CH)
Jeux Sans Frontières
Documentation 10
Sound Development
City team
(Heller Enterprises)
Gesa Schneider
Project Direction
Andalus
Project Direction
Nicholas Schärer
Communications
Lukas Amacher
Radio Bus
Ruth Lang
Intern
Julia Albani
Production Lisboa, Media
Teresa Baumeister
Production Lisboa
Ina Studenroth
Production Marseille, Media
Andrea Reiter
Transcription radio
transmissions
Partners
Lisbon Architecture
Triennale associated project
Radio Zero Lisboa
La Friche Belle de Mai Marseille
A.M.I centre Marseille
ZINC Marseille
Audioasyl streaming
Index of Images
1, 2, 4, 5, Backcover:
Nicholas Schärer
3, 8: Patrice Terraz
6: Andalus
7: Ruth Lang
Imprint Project
Documentation
Gesa Schneider
Concept
Martin Heller, Nicholas Schärer
Editors
Kerstin Landis, Jonas Voegeli
(Hubertus Design)
Design
Hili Perlson
Copy Editor
Druckerei Odermatt, Dallenwil
Print
Thank you
Nia Schmidheiny
Gabriel Bachmann
Links
www.sound-development-city.
com/2013
Logbook
www.sound-development-city.com
Project
www.sound-development.com
Sound Development
© 2013 Copyright by
Sound Development and
the authors