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| :: 1st Surround recording in le abbaye Noirlac :: |
This weekend is the only opportunity I have within the remaining time, to gather surround recordings at le abbaye Noirlac. Last night was my first attempt and tonight will be my last. I actually enjoy the fact that time is so limited as it means my work methods, ideas and process's have no room for 'whatif's' and 'maybe's'. I am working with what I feel are my absolutes and am not questioning my instincts.
The planning and development of the concept behind this work has been the hardest process to rush (how can you rush thought, reflection, conscious and unconscious realisation?) The trick for myself has been to not think too much rather just do and then reflect on the creation or sound gathering afterwards (making the unconscious conscious).
Using these methods the final work I hope to present to Paul Fournier, Geneviève Hollemaert and Fabienne Taranne will consist of two installations that portray the world as viewed from within Noirlac. Both pieces will be site specific with the sounds mixed specifically for the selected spaces and utilizing systems that have been configured accordingly. The first space would be the Refectory (where I have been working) and the second, would be the Cloister - a garden at the centre of the abbey.
Thoughts and discoveries that have led me to these developments include the realisation that both the abbey and the township of Bruere Allichamps exist and have existed in the past in their own pleasant individual worlds. The two are obviously connected (the abbey is actually within Bruere Allichamps boundaries) and yet they remain as two very separate entities living peacefully side by side in comfortable silence.
When I then look at the life that the monks of the abbey use to live, it too was one contained within a bubble. In keeping with their Cistercian beliefs, the monks were not allowed to leave the abbey's boundaries and despite their surroundings of dense wilderness - well worth an adventure - they remained within the confines each and everyday and night. And so - on this thought, I decided that the work that entailed bringing the 'Outside' within the walls of Noirlac, should also include the opposite - bringing the sounds of Noirlac to the 'Outside' (hence, two installations).
The first installation would be the 'Outside In' (sounds of the outside such as bird calls, wind, markets etc) to be installed within the abbey, in the refectory. The second would be the 'In Within' (sounds from within the abbey Noirlac) to be installed still within the abbey, but, at it's Cloister (centre garden). I like the idea that inverting these sounds is creating a breathing space for each world, within it's opposite other - allowing their presence to be felt where it has been forbidden in the past.
To be cont'd
