'Scratch' locative audio drama - report to BBC executives on trial at BBC FreeThinking 2008

‘Scratch’ investigates the use of physical space as a representation of narrative and dramatic structure. An audio-drama, it is a world-first in being location-sensitive without being tied to any particular place (preceding attempts by others have emphasised location-specific aspects of the genre). Developed in collaboration with and part-funded by BBC Radio Drama, it builds on research undertaken for ‘Dragons’ (output 4). It uses pre-recorded audio on GPS-enabled mobile devices allowing sounds to be virtually attached to locations in an outdoor space. As participants move, they encounter scenes forming a coherent drama which behave differently if the same place is visited more than once. This translocational approach opens novel artistic possibilities exploited through team expertise in narrative, sound design and advanced interaction. It is also significant in the economics of broadcast media as a more viable proposition than the many experimental locative experiences which have been site-specific: this was of great interest to the BBC. The public performance selected for BBC FreeThinking, 1-2 September 2008 in Liverpool as part of European Capital of Culture was reported in a co-authored 2009 conference presentation at ISEA, Belfast, 26-29 August 2009 and in a co-authored short chapter in Spierling and Szilas (eds.) Interactive Storytelling, Springer 2008. Boyd Davis directed the project and devised and undertook the evaluation with 40 trial listeners, reporting to BBC executives (http://researchonline.rca.ac.uk/1000/) for whom a second trial was also run in London in 2009. The evaluation used interview, video observation and a questionnaire combining an open question at the beginning with more specific questions later, avoiding channelling respondents' reactions immediately after the experience into issues which might not be uppermost in their minds, while also yielding data capable of rigorous analysis. The evaluation was to provide feedback to the makers of the drama and to guide policy at the BBC. [287] Participants were recruited principally through the publicity for FreeThinking 2008 – mainly via the festival website. The average age of participants was 40. The gender of participants was 20 males, 17 females and 3 null returns. The evaluation strategy was to combine an open question at the beginning with more specific questions later. In this way we avoided channeling respondents' initial opinions immediately after the experience into issues which might not be uppermost in their minds, while also yielding data capable of rigorous analysis. The purpose of the evaluation was to provide guidance for ourselves as the makers of the drama and to guide policy at the BBC on locative and other interactive media. The responses are analysed in the report.

Sound Seam

A moving image work based on research with neurologists and audiologists, collectors and archivists. The film gives voice to the idea that every surface, in particular parts of our anatomy, is potentially inscribed with an unheard sound or echoes of voices from the past. The soundtrack’s musical composition is interlaced with a voice-over which draws on Rainer Maria Rilke’s text 'Primal Sound', where he reflects on the possibility of playing the coronal suture of a skull with a phonograph needle. The film uses microscopic photography, scanning electron microscopy, and sounds of otoacoustic emissions to uncover haunting aural bonescapes. The voiceovers too are recorded using old sound technology as a filter - writing and over-writing of wax cylinder to create unexpected scratches, glitches, loops and echoes. Exhibitions: shown as multi-channel sound/film installation AV festival (Newcastle 2010); solo exhibition at Wellcome Collection (London 2010-11); group exhibition ‘Samsung Art+ Prize’ BFI Southbank (London 2012); group exhibition ‘Transcendence’, Gertrude Contemporary, Melbourne (2014); solo exhibition as part of the International Rotterdam Film Festival (2013); group exhibition ‘The Sight of Sound’, Deutsche Bank VIP Lounge, Frieze Art Fair, NY (2012). Screenings: mini-retrospective at the Lincoln Centre, NY, as part of the New York Film Festival (2013); Jarman Award Tour screenings (2012, venues included Whitechapel Gallery, London; FACT, Liverpool; CCA, Glasgow; The Northern Charter in partnership with CIRCA projects; Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham; Watershed, Bristol; Duke of York Cinema, Brighton), Whitechapel Gallery, London; FACT, Liverpool; CCA, Glasgow; The Northern Charter in partnership with CIRCA projects, Newcastle (special Q&A Aura Satz with Rebecca Shatwell, director of AV festival); Nottingham Contemporary, Nottingham; Watershed, Bristol; Duke of York Cinema, Brighton; Mini-retrospective at Tate Britain (London 2014); Mini-retrospective screening, DIM Cinema, The Cinematheque (Vancouver 2015); Mini-retrospective at Whitechapel Gallery (London 2016). Publications: ‘Sound Seam’ booklet with contributions by Steven Connor and Tom McCarthy (2010).