Stuart Burch
www.stuartburch.com
  • 01 Home
  • 02 Articles
  • 03 Blog
  • 04 Big Ben
  • 05 Reviews
  • 06 Talks
  • 07 Contact
  • 08 Search
  • 09 Twitter
  • 10 Etisarap

Sounds of the city

27/8/2011

 
Pedestrian crossing outside Dramaten in Stockholm
Pedestrian crossing near Dramaten, Stockholm
Cities are remarkable but potentially overwhelming places. Our brains are constantly striving to make sense of a flood of sensory information. There is simply too much to take in. So our minds unconsciously filter out extraneous details: sights, sounds, smells, textures - even tastes.

An example of what I mean is contained in the image and sound file included in this blog posting.

What could be more mundane and unremarkable than a street crossing?

Well, as a matter of fact this piece of utilitarian street furniture helps make a place distinct. Shape, colour, design and technology vary from country to country. So too does the "language", i.e. the symbols and sounds. They function like dialects: strange enough to be noteworthy, but familiar enough for us to make sense of them - even if we are visitors from distant lands that possess alternative species of street crossings.

So the clicks and beeps, flashing lights and illuminated signs all play their role in making somewhere familiar or strange.

We could illustrate this by documenting pedestrian crossings in various countries and using the resulting collection of images and sounds as the basis for a compilation of city effects.

Remember too that this would be a snapshot in time. There was an era when the towns and cities of Sweden did not  resonate to the clickings of its pedestrian crossings. When did they arrive? Who decided that they should click and not beep? And who determined on the duration of the beat?

These metronomes will surely disappear one day. They'll be replaced with something new or nothing at all. Will Swedes mourn their loss? Or will they listen to the silence, scratch their heads and ask: something's different, something's missing... but I can't quite put my finger on what's changed...

Press here - Swedish style
Above: Pedestrian crossing in Stockholm, 27/08/2011, 01:08

Comments are closed.
    Author
    an extinct parasite
    of several hosts
    Why parasite?

    Try the best you can

    Para, jämsides med.
    En annan sort.
    Dénis Lindbohm,
    Bevingaren, 1980: 90

    Picture
    Even a parasite like me should be permitted to feed at the banquet of knowledge

    I once posted comments as Bevingaren at guardian.co.uk

    Guggenheim New York, parasitized

    Archives

    July 2019
    July 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    July 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    August 2015
    September 2014
    August 2014
    November 2013
    August 2013
    June 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011

    Categories

    All
    Architecture
    Archive
    Art
    Commemoration
    Dénis Lindbohm
    Dennis Potter
    Design
    Dylan Thomas
    Ethics
    Framing
    Freedom Of Speech
    Heritage
    Heroes And Villains
    History
    Illicit Trade
    Landscape
    Media
    Memorial
    Museum
    Music
    Nordic
    Para
    Politics
    Rupert Murdoch
    Science
    Science Fiction
    Shockmolt
    Statue
    Tourism
    Words

    Stuart Burch
    View my profile on LinkedIn
    _
    Note    All parasitoids are parasites, but not all parasites are parasitoids
    Parasitoid    "A parasite that always ultimately destroys its host" (Oxford English Dictionary)


        I live off you
        And you live off me
        And the whole world
        Lives off everybody

        See we gotta be exploited
        By somebody, by somebody,             by somebody
       
        X-Ray Spex
            <I live off you>
        Germ Free Adolescents
            1978  

    From symbiosis
    to parasitism
    is a short step.
    The word is
    now a virus.
    William Burroughs, The word is now a virus
    William Burroughs
    <operation rewrite>

    Do nothing
    that can
    harm
    your host!

    Hal Clement
    <
    Needle>
    1950
key words: architecture | archive | art | commemoration | design | ethics | framing | freedom of speech | heritage | heroes and villains | history | illicit trade | landscape | media | memorial | memory | museum | music | nordic | nottingham trent university | parasite | politics | science fiction | shockmolt | statue | stuart burch | tourism | words |