How can the practice of audiovisual composition expand on or challenge the discourse of psychogeography?

In which ways can intermedial audiovisual techniques be used to capture a subjective experience of London’s ‘edgelands’ (Shoard, 2017: 5) and ‘luminous locales’ (Sinclair in Rogers, 2018)?

Can the feeling of spatial liminality that can be felt in these locations be translated into an installation space through audiovisuality?
Allowing the atmosphere of the location to seep into the installation space.

I believe that the layered complexity of such processes are a strong method of describing London’s equally complex terrain and my audiovisual explorations go on to test this theory, VJing the psychogeography of London. Through depicting my compositions in a fragmented, unstable way, I believe they can represent the changing nature of these places in a way which can provide new insights into place.

Place

Space

Sound

Psychogeography

We begin our journey into Kent
On the Old Kent Road, southeast London
Pausing amidst the early morning traffic

The ride takes us beneath the railway line
And onto sleepy suburban streets

Pausing on Greenwich Peninsula
We look out across London’s edgelands
Wondering at what point the city ends
And the countryside begins...

Walk to the northern border.
Document it with video and sound.
How may this terrain be evoked?

Through intermedial techniques what may I reveal about the spaces in between?
VJ uncover London’s edgelands
a loop at the edge of its sonic boundaries
interpret the liminal spaces of London
the marginal spaces the spaces in between
While Patrick Keiller uses film for his architectural explorations
why do I choose these (intermedial) methods for my own practice?


‘this nowhere, this edge, is the place that will offer fresh narratives’ (Sinclair, 2002: 14)

‘The cities of filmmakers, built up of momentary fragments, envelop us with the full vigour of real cities.’ (Pallasmaa, 2005: 68)

‘the sonic can itself augment or double the physical landscape’ (O’Sullivan, 2018: 57)

the ‘slightly detached condition of cycling can encourage lengthy associations of ideas or recollections’ (Keiller, 2014: 175)

‘An interior map - the landscape within us’ (Elwes, 2015: 15)

‘the tangible landscape of memory’ (Solnit, 2006: 117)

‘the terra incognita of film, the dark continent on every map.’ (Solnit, 2006: 175)

‘The still offers us the inside of the fragment.’ (Barthes, 1977: 67)

uncovering the ‘secret lives of England’ (Kötting & Sinclair, 2012)

Readings (click for more)

Exhibitions (click for more)

City to Coast Sketchbook
(click for more)

London Routine - process
(click for more)

Audiovisual Explorations of London

The intent of this process is to not have a route in mind, rather for one to ‘be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there’ (Debord, 1956).

‘Our cities have been studied, mapped and celebrated as keenly as our countryside. The same cannot be said of our edgelands.’ (Farley & Symmons Roberts, 2012: 73)

‘this nowhere, this edge, is the place that will offer fresh narratives’ (Sinclair, 2002: 14)

Akio Suzuki, 'Listening Points'

Richard Long, 'Cycling Sculpture'
(from 'Cyclogeography')

‘the map of the locations of these logos is the score’ (Gottschalk, 2016: 239)

Patrick Keiller, 'London'

Monty Williams, Bridgehouse Meadows [2023] / 03:33
Audiovisual composition

‘The cities of filmmakers, built up of momentary fragments, envelop us with the full vigour of real cities.’ (Pallasmaa, 2005: 68)

Notes on website navigation:

-Full screen viewing recommended.
-Listening through headphones recommended.
-Scroll left and right to explore.
-Click on links for further detail.
-Wander at your own pace...

Laura Oldfield Ford
'Savage Messiah'

Monty Williams, City to Coast [2022] / 19:02
Field recordings with narration

Monty Williams, City to Coast [2022] / 19:02
Field recordings with narration

Monty Williams, Stave Hill Sound Ride [2022] / 23:03
Field recordings and music mix

‘There’s a whole new story to be told, thanks to the new techniques. We must find out what we have to say because of our new technologies.’ (Bartlett in Youngblood, 1970: 264)

Phantoms of Nabua

Monty Williams, Sonic Journeys through Places (extract) [2023] / 05:09
Live soundtrack recording

Monty Williams, London Routine [2023] / 04:22
Audiovisual composition

Monty Williams, Telegraph Hill [2023] / 04:18
Audiovisual composition, music by tide/edit

Monty Williams, This Train is for Lewisham [2023] / 01:50
Audiovisual composition, remixed music by Spike

'Inspired by my encounter with Sinclair, I wanted to get out of London, to the edge of things.' (Day, 2015: 114)

Monty Williams, Bridgehouse Meadows [2023] / 03:58
Installation documentation

Monty Williams, London Routine [2023] / 04:33
Installation documentation 1

Monty Williams, London Routine [2023] / 04:28
Installation documentation 2

Monty Williams, Telegraph Hill [2023] / 04:42
Installation documentation

City to Coast: Coda
(click pdf to download)