By the Sound of Things

Listen

The approach

From the deck of one of the last surviving Manchester Ship Canal tugs, the audience was invited to feel the vast echoes and epic scale of the modern shipping industry and consider the extent and impact of our insatiable consumerism on local and global environments. Submerged beneath the waterline, mariners rest below deck between watches – their cradle song is the aching sounds of a ship against water.

A nautical soundtrack transports wayfarers to a vast and veiled world – a subaquatic acoustical mirage. Featuring deep sea hydrophone recordings depicting the marine ecosystem disrupted by man-made ship noise, this hypnotic binaural sound work told the story of the journey of a container as it travels from the surface to the bottom of the ocean.

Credits

By the Sound of Things by Kate Davies is commissioned and produced by Abandon Normal Devices. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England with further support from The Daniel Adamson Preservation Society, Portico: Portsmouth’s Cargo Terminal, and Maritime Digital Hub. Special thanks to Professor Steve Simpson, University of Exeter, the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, and Marta Bolgan PhD.

Sound Design: Chris Timpson of Aurelia Studios, Voice: Jess Gunning, Host: Peader Kirk, Producer: Tricia Coleman, Production Manager: David Berger, Technical Operator: Jake Goouge