concept2: Ian Taylor

The sound of erosion

The work of Ian Taylor: Studio_6

Erosion is the wearing away of the earth’s surface. It can happen quickly, in the case of a landslide, or it can happen slowly over time.

The point of this studio is to reveal hidden potentials and natural processes that are all too often hidden from our phenomenological understanding of landscape. The intervention should reveal that which is otherwise concealed.

This installation cross-pollinates the perception of time and place with the sense of sound. The installation is intended to reveal what erosion could sound like. The site, a 150 foot deep ravine in the Capitol Hill district of Seattle, Washington, is an isolated environment within the urban landscape. The ravine is a city park that hosts any number of homeless campers. The traces of their existence are found throughout the 5 acre greenbelt. Blankets, jackets, shoes and beer cans are littered around the site and seem to be as naturalised as the vegetation, birds and earth. In the distance, the sound of the I-5 freeway and the industrial lakefront interrupts the otherwise peaceful ambience of the isolated ecosystem.

The restrained sound of the earth’s movement cannot be revealed in real time, but like holding a sea-shell to your ear your perception of time and place can be altered to expose something that is not normally heard.

I am presently working through the process of refining the analog installation into something that will work. Time is the most challenging element in the equation thus far. I am also trying to tie the installation to the vernacular of the site. The beer can speaker is a humorous way of drawing attention to the users of the space; however, the thought of someone listening to a beer can to hear the earth may be a little perverse.