Paper short abstract:

Five Stockholm residents were asked to record sounds during one week, resulting in multi-layered stories about the ongoing life as well as memories of places and events in the past. With excerpts from these sound diaries I wish to address aspects of belonging/not belonging from a sonic perspective.

Paper long abstract:

The sound work 'Stockholm sound diaries' consists of shorter pieces from the field recording material collected in 2011 as empirical data for my master theses, in which I explore field recording as a method for studying experience of sound and place. Five persons, all settled in Stockholm, were asked to record sounds during one week, followed up by interviews. Through the process of recording, presenting and discussing everyday sounds personal narratives are created; defining sonic spatiality, articulating sound experience as ways of knowing and belonging, and linking together ongoing lives and memories of other places and events in life.

These narratives relate in several ways to the topic of dwelling. By presenting the diary excerpts I wish to address aspects of belonging/not belonging from a sound perspective. Choosing what to capture with the microphone becomes a way to present yourself and the spaces constituting your daily landscape. Identifying and being familiar with the soundscape - in many cases the tiniest details, such as the sonic qualities of different knives in the kitchen or a subtle tonality of the subway train - can be understood in terms of 'feeling at home'. The field recording process not only presents the already familiar, but also works as a method for exploring and understanding things so far unknown and things so well incorporated in the everyday choreography that they - until captured - pass unreflected.

The submitted sound work also includes comments about the field recordings from the interviews, which highlight the variety of feelings and functions connected to listening.

Link to sound work: https://soundcloud.com/kitchen-sink-sounds/stockholm-sound-diaries/s-nSeIa