Watermark (2012) 2:1 channel sound installation,

Common Hall Lane is an ancient thoroughfare that acted as a portal for people and goods entering the city of York from the River Ouse. Many of the stones brought to construct the Minster arrived by this route. The Lane, which was roofed over in the 15^th century, has an amphibious existence, being regularly submerged under water as the river level rises and falls throughout the year.

Watermark consists of hydrophone recordings from the Ouse and its tributaries and brings the sounds of the sub-aqua environment into Common Hall Lane, interacting with the particular acoustics of the space. Many of these sounds of water and wildlife – sub-aqua insects, waterfowl and swirls of fish – would have been present back when the Lane was first used. Other sounds are specific to the contemporary river, which is now mainly used as a site of leisure and tourism. These sounds of contemporary river life permeate through the water to merge with the sounds of the submerged world.

The events was commissioned for  DAFx-12, International Conference on Audio Effects, University of York,  September 11^th, 2012  curated by Damian Murphy and Jude Bereton. The event was under the auspices of the network ‘I Hear Too – Improving Heritage Experience through Acoustic Reality and Audio Research’, an AHRC/EPSRC Science/Heritage Research Cluster initiated by Dr. Damian Murphy of the Intelligent Systems Group/Audio Lab research group at the University of York.

To listen to the work please go to: https://soundcloud.com/david-chapman/watermark

For more Information about ‘I Hear Too’, please click: I Hear Too

Subsequently presented:
March 2013 , SoundOut!, SoundFjord Gallery, London.