A Quiet Odyssey : Blog Article : Australian Music Centre

21 February 2017

A Quiet Odyssey

Seeking a Quiet Ecology

<em>Quiet Ecology</em> cover by Dale A Wright (detail)

Image: Quiet Ecology cover by Dale A Wright (detail)

'The task of seeking out quiet spaces in cities is a bit like making a musical score of locational "dots" which represent where those pauses in the city are and a map of how to find them. When I am in cities I will head down laneways or between buildings just to find out what those spaces feel like, to be still, be present, to breathe', writes Jason Sweeney about his continuing quest for quiet spaces. His book Quiet Ecology is just out - for purchases, see blurb.com. The album is also ready, now available via Bandcamp.

In 2016, I undertook 'a quiet odyssey' across four Australian cities (Adelaide, Perth, Sydney and Melbourne), recording and documenting up to 500 quiet spaces in and amongst these built environments. I wanted to set out on a journey to discover, sonically gather and acoustically analyse as many zones of quiet or retreat in these cities as I could. Binaural field recordings of each city location began to form interconnected sound maps (and ultimately real-time quiet listening walks) for each city.

My introverted quest for quiet has always been based upon this principle: how do we control the balance of active and noisy with peace and quiet?

I began my quiet-seeking obsession in 2013 with 'Stereopublic: Crowdsourcing the Quiet', a collaborative app-based project made with Freerange Future which invited members of the public from four continents and over 60 cities to contribute short field recordings of quiet spaces in urban environments. This resulted in the creation of 1000 original ambient compositions. The world-wide distribution of this work has been online, via the Stereopublic iPhone app and as part of TED Talks, net-radio, installation and live performances.

In 2014 I made a 24/7 online radio channel, with Yuri Tománek, called Sound Introversion Radio that play-listed curated non-stop low-volume ambient music and field recordings.

I created a 30-hour durational performance work in 2015 called 'Silent Type' allowing audiences to experience various 'stations' of quiet experiences inside various spaces and acoustic locations.

I published and exhibited 'Instructions for Listening': 250 different instructions, minimally written as simple guides for active quiet acts of listening. Some are literal, some are abstract, some are beautifully impossible to achieve.

All of these projects led to 'Quiet Ecology'. Alongside making long-form ambient compositions and field recording works, I've recently published a book of micro-essays, illustrations, writings and 'quiet' city maps. I invited a small selection of artists, writers, thinkers, designers and sound-sensitive humans to respond, each in their own way, to notions of listening, space, quietness, stillness and productivity, light and dark, noise and the sound of the future.

Through all of these projects, my desire was to ask a simple question: can you find a way to release yourself, if only temporarily, from the noise of the world?

What will our future cities sound like? Will they be noisy, chaotic, hyper-social, unhealthy, full of sound and fury? Or will they become greener spaces, intent on a quieter way of living? How do we find spaces in our cities that maintain a sense of balance, find places of retreat and solace?

Through 'Quiet Ecology' I wanted to find new ways to articulate the need for immersive (and quiet) experiences in a built environment and to inspire slower acts of living and listening. I wanted to encourage a way for a collective public to embrace sonic health and well-being. I wanted to archive the sounds and silences of these spaces as an act of quiet preservation.

In my personal life and artistic practice I like to disappear, be anonymous, in a metropolis; to find spaces I can go unnoticed. I like to walk and walk for hours and imagine a different kind of city. But a city can both energise and deplete me. It can draw me in, swallow me up, drown me out. So where can I retreat? I go into the space of music. I compose my thoughts through sound.

When composing music I am always listening for spaces between the notes. Quiet moments, a tiny pause, a space to accentuate beauty and tenderness. I believe cities can have these in-between spaces too. Transitional spaces.

The task of seeking out quiet spaces in cities is a bit like making a musical score of locational 'dots' which represent where those pauses in the city are and a map of how to find them.

When I am in cities I will head down laneways or between buildings just to find out what those spaces feel like, to be still, be present, to breathe. I am listening out for that quiet corner in a busy mall or a shopping strip, a place to sit and just observe and be alone, but not lonely. I'll go sit near a fountain where the rushing water shuts out the sound of the crowd.

I think of a city as a living, breathing organism. Imagine how anxious a city must be if it is always having to be 'on', never able to just take a deep breath for a moment, to stop the chatter, to find that brief pause. The idea of a city that never sleeps sounds too stressful to me! Surely if we encourage thinking around maintaining and protecting quiet spaces in cities, then levels of anxiety and stress will also reduce? Of course, every city is going to be vastly different depending on its character, history and context, but by opening up the discussion, my hope is that soft arguments and global conversations around quiet might take place.

So, my task, through my self-initiated role as a 'quiet ecologist', has been to make slow soft music for cities. I take inspiration from those interstitial spaces and create little sonic memorials for locations in an urban environment that remain dedicated quiet spots.

But when all is said and done and the sounds of the city subside I ask only one thing: please be quiet.

Quiet Ecology was curated and edited by Jason Sweeney, with co-editor Em König, and contributions (text and/or visual) by Leah Barclay, Amy Milhinch, Jason Sweeney, Julie Vulcan and Dale A Wright.