Paper short abstract:

This paper examines ephemeral sound-based artistic practices that are concerned with the specificity of place, and examines the relationship between sound and space through embodiment and imagination.

Paper long abstract:

In recent years much has been written about the conceptual limitations of site specificity in art; about the homogenization, fragmentation and alienation resulting from globalization; and about an understanding of place as an unstable and shifting set of contested relations . Despite - or because of - these scenarios, there seems to be a movement in contemporary art practice towards a more direct engagement with a specific location, and a return to what James Meyer has termed the "literal" site . This paper examines ephemeral sound-based artistic practices that are concerned with the specificity of place, and examines the relationship between sound and space through embodiment and imagination. The paper will present an investigation of the work of Canadian sound artist Janet Cardiff, paying close attention to the audio walk The Missing Voice: Case Study B, which takes the listener through the streets and lanes of London's East End, starting at the Whitechapel Gallery and finishing inside Liverpool Station. The walk consists of a "well-structured psychic tapestry" which combines pre-recorded ambient sounds of the location with descriptions, comments, fragments of overheard conversation, loosely-structured narrative, snatches of music and references to the past. Fragmented and incomplete, the walk leaves space for the imagination, memory and emotion of the listener. The terrain for the exploration is the internal experience of the individual in the city and uses sound, memory and imagination to create a deep connection to place.