ECOde is a project run by Invisible Dust with kids from Scarborough Library’s Code Club.
The aim of the project is to help the code club kids to become more aware of their environment and changes in it through coding and technology. I’m the artistic lead for the first part of the project, working with sound to get the participants to gain a wider awareness through listening, and starting to look at things we can tell about an environment simply by listening to the soundscape. We’ve gone out on two field recording trips where the participants have recorded contrasting sounds in different parts of Scarborough near to the library including waves on the shore, traffic, and underwater recordings in the duck pond on Valley Road. We’ve also recorded ‘hidden’ sounds around us such as sonifying electromagnetic interference. The next step is to make an soundmap of the area, uploading their recordings to Google Maps, and then finally creating their own creative response through a sonic postcard made by layering and manipulating the sounds in the coding language Sonic Pi.
I’ll also be running a workshop on the 1st March in live-streaming, where we’ll install a streambox on the roof of the library which will stream the soundscape in real-time on the locus sonus soundmap (
http://locusonus.org/soundmap/051/). We intend to keep this streambox running so anyone can listen in at any time to hear how the soundscape changes throughout the seasons, including the sounds of migrating birds, as well as seagulls who are nesting on the roof.
Check out the soundmap with sounds recorded by the ECOde participants here:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1g7zc-97Lu5C2scJvtAZnFtJUF1M&usp=sharing
About robflute
Rob Mackay is a composer, sound artist and performer. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Hull.
Recent projects have moved towards a cross-disciplinary approach, including geology, soundscape ecology, theatre, audiovisual installation work, and human-computer interaction. His work has been performed in 18 countries (including several performances on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 1 and Radio France), and a number of his pieces have received international awards (Bourges (1997 and 2001), EAR (1999), La Muse en Circuit (2007)). He has held composer residencies at Slovak Radio (Bratislava), La Muse en Circuit (Paris), the Tyrone Guthrie Arts Centre (Ireland), Habitación del Ruido (Mexico City), and CMMAS (Morelia).
He has collaborated with a number of poets, including Martin Daws (Young People’s Poet Laureate for Wales, 2013 – 2015) and John Wedgwood Clarke (for the Arts Council funded Dictionary of Stone and Sea Swim with Lara Goodband). This was a natural progression from working on a number of projects based on the theme of geology, including a collaboration with percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie on the Natural England funded Ruskin Rocks project, led by a team of scientists and musicians at the University of Leeds who created two stone instruments (lithophones). He has also created a Jurassic soundscape for Scarborough’s Rotunda museum which is currently installed.
Rob has been a reviewer for numerous international conferences, including ICMC (International Computer Music Conference), NIME (New Instruments for Musical Expression), DHRN (Digital Humanities Research Network), and journals (Organised Sound, Cambridge University Press) and is editor for Interference, a Journal of Audio Cultures.
He has played, written and produced in a number of bands including the Welsh Hip-Hop collective Tystion with whom he collaborated alongside John Cale on the film A Beautiful Mistake (Film 4), as well as recording two John Peel sessions on BBC Radio 1 and supporting PJ Harvey. The band have a chapter devoted to them in Sarah Hill’s book ‘Blerwytirhwng?’ The Place of Welsh Pop Music (Ashgate 2007).
Rob has done session work for Super Furry Animals producer Gorwel Owen, songwriter Euros Childs, and Hip-Hop producer Kista. He is currently enjoying playing in the Welsh Afro-tropical collective Drymbago, having supported Quantic and Tony Allen.
More information and pieces at: www.soundcloud.com/robflute
University of Hull Profile Page
Rob Mackay 