ABOUT THE WORKSHOP:
Led by PhD Candidate Amanda Gutiérrez, this workshop invites you to immerse yourself in Montreal’s urban environment, focusing on its soundscapes and the architectural echoes that define its character. In this workshop, we will stroll through the streets and listen to urban architecture, soundscapes, and their socio-cultural layers. Through counter-mapping we will identify the sonic landmarks that contrast and amplify our spatial meanings. This activity will help us plan a score and a walking itinerary. We will map and trace these spatial relations to develop an Augmented Reality (AR) soundwalk informed by our situated meanings, creatively sense and discuss the location’s visible, audible, and symbolic layers to co-create its sound design. We will learn to use the custom-made AR platform ECHOES, which gives users access to its web-based interface. The workshop will focus on how AR technology operates through geolocation and movement, while the sound design will extend into the spatial dimension.
We aim to create a group AR soundwalk to highlight the participants’ experiences and their designs. This intuitive relationship will help foster group dynamics by offering sound grounding exercises in listening positionality. The AR walk developed during the workshop will be presented to the public and collectively amplified.
No previous experience is needed in sound or web development.
ABOUT AMANDA GUTIERREZ:
Amanda Gutiérrez (she/her) was initially trained as a stage designer, studying at The National School of Theater in Mexico. Presently, Gutiérrez uses a range of media, such as sound and performance art, to investigate the aural culture of everyday life. Gutierrez is actively advocating for listening practices while being one of the board of directors of the World Listening Project, formerly working with The Midwest Society of Acoustic Ecology, and currently as the scientific comitée of the Red Ecología Acústica México. Currently, she is a Ph.D. student at Concordia University and a research assistant at lab PULSE and Acts of Listening Lab.