Exploring the use of sound in heritage contexts
The project seeks to investigate the role of sound in influencing our experience of spaces and places, focusing on heritage sites and using the Chatham Historic Dockyard as a case study. This project will explore how sound can be utilised within heritage contexts to immerse and engage members of the public, providing alternative interpretations of space and place through aural means and revealing new forms of engagement with significant sites.
This investigation will be approached through the development of site-sensitive works, with empirical data collection of audience experience providing critical feedback on theory and practice.
A series of outputs will be delivered including a digitised electronic audio archive (from archival recordings held by the Chatham Historic Dockyard Trust), music compositions and sound installations within the Dockyard Museum, a public project website, interactive projects for secondary school students, publications in academic journals and papers to be presented at conferences.
The case study of Chatham Dockyard offers a unique opportunity to explore these notions, providing diverse and compelling physical spaces and a rich heritage which has evolved over the last 400 years to reflect at all times the latest technological and industrial innovations of the eras – from sail to steam to nuclear technologies. While the visual fabric of the buildings remains, the sounds of human activities have long since been silenced. This project provides an opportunity to reawaken these lost sounds and to rediscover a rich industrial heritage through fresh ears.
Key Researchers and Project Partners
- University of Greenwich
- University of Kent
- Dr Andrew Knight-Hill – Co-Investigator
- Dr Aki Pasoulas – Principal Investigator
- Dr Brona Martin – Research Fellow