Listening, and Co-Making Sound-Art as Ethnography: Navigating Experience through Community Expression in Northfield

Abstract

This project investigates Northfield's transition from an industrial centre to a community grappling with its identity in the wake of industrial decline and post-EU referendum divisions. In collaboration with Northfield Arts Forum and Allen’s Cross Community Centre, it engages local residents, ex-factory workers, and community groups through sound, fostering new conversations about our evolving world and how we interpret its meanings.

​

The research adopts an innovative approach to collaborative ethnography in sound, offering vivid documentations of post-industrial community expression through co-made sonic exhibitions. It aims to explore the intimate, reflexive qualities of sound in capturing post-industrial identities, local space perceptions, cultural histories, and community boundaries in the digital age. This study seeks to develop methodological frameworks for future sound-based community engagements, addressing the displacement effects of post-industrialisation and hypermobility.

​

This interdisciplinary research moves away from the traditional view of art as imposed on communities, towards reciprocal creative labour. It aims to develop methodologies that balance aesthetic and social innovation, employing real-time investigation tools for temporally sustained community engagement. The project emphasises the dialogic value of bringing compositional insights into the public realm, exploring co-composition and the creation of a co-aesthetic.

​

The research questions explore the potential of sonic field notes, multimodal interaction, and co-authored making for intimate ethnography; the documentation of post-industrial experiences through soundscapes and acousmatic sound, the development of a democratic, fluid sound-art form, and the establishment of sound practice as a reciprocal methodological tool for community-based creative groups.

​

The methodology involves close collaboration with Northfield Arts Forum and other Northfield-based organisations, focusing on sound recording, sound-walking, object probes, event reconstruction, and collaborative sonic journals to understand community members' perceptions and experiences of place in Northfield. The project prioritizes ethical considerations, informed consent, and co-curation of an online platform for documenting and archiving sound meanings and perceptions.

​

Ultimately, the research aims to co-produce immersive sound exhibitions, establish a public online geo-locative archive, and preserve co-authored sonic reflections, documenting community engagement, expression, and experiences in Northfield across various media formats.