Eleventh International Conference on The Constructed Environment

Abstract

This study considers the ongoing creative and theoretical outcomes of the sounding project that I am carrying out in Montreal’s Underground City. This well used, expansive, and understudied area is comprised of more than 30 km of tunnels, corridors, and commercial spaces located throughout the downtown core of the city. By way of using soundwalking, semi-structured interviews and various sound reproduction techniques, the project considers how listeners engage with Montreal’s Underground City while also attempting to extend and problematize the auditory scope of current locative sound art and sound mapping praxis, which too often maintain a narrow focus in relation to what constitutes urban sound and the creative possibilities of locative media. While certainly not the only method for urban sound practitioners to forge connections between sound and place, sound maps are increasingly becoming the most common and widespread, and reveal many of the limitations of web-based and networked aural arts praxis.