Listening to the city

Anna Pikuła TRAKT CTC Listening to the city

Close your eyes and recall a city you have recently visited which made a huge impression on you. What comes to your mind? The city’s layout, some buildings which stand out, colours, the crowd in the streets or the lack of it… What about sounds – do you recall any particular sound of the place? Did it have a positive or negative influence on you? Did it help you get to know the area you visited?

Our perception of the surrounding is dominated by visual experiences. Sight is the most fundamental sense which we use to discover the world. Even cities are designed in such a way as to provide us with the best possible visual experiences. Research on the phenomenon of cities also focuses mainly on their visual aspect. Such an approach neglects the whole area of sounds which accompany particular landscapes and influence the way we perceive and experience them. Even though we are rarely aware of it.

The term soundscape, meaning the whole acoustic environment, was coined in the 1960s by the Canadian composer Raymond Murray Schafer. What was important for him was how the environment is understood by those who live in it. Being in a certain place, we also become part of its acoustic environment and have influence on it. The relationship between the listener and the environment does not mean passive reception of energy but it is rather part of a dynamic system of exchange of information.

Due to the development of civilisation, the acoustic environment has become polluted. This is what we call noise. As a result, the listener is separated from the environment in which he or she is. Noise pollution (buzz, noise) leads to a situation in which we are unable to recognise other sounds providing information about the surrounding. As a result, our sensitivity to sound is lower. Schafer encourages us to be conscious listeners and develop our sonological competence, that is to practice perceiving (hearing) and recognising soundscapes. Schafer calls this ‘ear cleaning’.

We would like to invite you to practice ‘ear cleaning’ during our summer temporary exhibition at Porta Posnania. We are going to focus on the soundscape of the area around Porta Posnania and try to listen together to its environment and recognise particular sounds constituting it. We are going to look for its characteristic features which contribute to its uniqueness as well as the elements which interfere with its perception and distort it. Finally, we are going to reflect on the issue of whether soundscape should be protected just like other elements of heritage.

So prick up your ears and visit our exhibition!

The exhibition "Sounds of Cybina" will be held at Porta Posnania in 2021 . Free admission!