Whitmore Reans Re-mapped

Echoes and traces of a site specific sound art installation originally installed at the Birmingham School of Art in 2017.

A walk through Birmingham city centre on a Tuesday.

Solo exercise, inspired by hash running and walking, so called sash ! The sash idea came about with the corona pandemic, to allow for local exercise, solo or with your bubble, etc. Though with UK rule relaxation, undertake according the present guidelines. Ground rules, accordingly relaxed: 1) No set date or time. 2) Undertake in groups up to the maximum allowed by guidelines. 3) Keep 2 metres apart from those outside your bubble. 4) Keep 2 metres apart from others if you encounter. 5) Ideally pick sashes that are local to you. 6) Walk bits where you can't clearly see the way ahead, so that 2 metre separation from others can be maintained. 7) In the pub, wear mask according the venue guidelines, or if none, your preference. 8) Mask not recommended while drinking or eating. 9) Do the sash at your own risk. How it works: Visible on your Apple/Android smartphone or GPS-equipped tablet, referred to here as device, are the following: A start/end square, and four circles showing the initial direction. Your device audibly 'echoes' blobs, checks, etc, when in the vicinity. You can just keep your device in your pocket or backpack, and follow the blob echoes. Or for a check echo, discover which way the blob trail continues. Two blobs in succession, or another check, and you've found the onward trail. A false echo means it's not that way. An echo saying 'on left', or 'on right', means go that way. Echoes can announce a fair few paces prior to the spot. And echoes repeat every 15 seconds if you linger. For longer stretches, echoes repeat every 15 seconds regardless of where you are within the stretch. The runners true trail is 3.9 miles, the walkers 2.4 miles. Part-way along the trail, your device echoes that the runners and walkers trails diverge, with a 'runners go right', and 'walkers go left'. The trails rejoin enroute, at which point the runners should ignore an overheard 'walkers go left' echo, of course. Along the shared sections, the walkers will encounter the checks, so they'll have a bit more work to do than on a regular hash. And the walkers-only part has one check just for them. While the runners-only part has one 'fish hook' echo, at which participants should return to the last check, then rerun that section. Separately for runners and walkers, about half-way around, your device echoes 'beer near', then 'beer stop'. For the latter you may like to take some refreshment in your backpack. Nearer the end, your device echoes 'circle up near', then 'circle up', so save some refreshment. After, your device echoes 'inn no', and leads you back to the start/end point. It won't be much of a reveal that the route passes Holy Trinity Church, to which Bishop Vesey in 1530 gifted his organ, to this handsome exposé of the clasping buttress. If you get stuck, a help map is available: Zoom in on the start/end square, then tap the triangle beside, then tap SEE MORE. The blue square is the start/end, the arrows show the trail direction, and the walkers-only part is dotted. On your device, open the Apple App Store or Android Play Store, and type ‘echoes’ in the store search box. The ECHOES app icon looks a bit like a fingerprint. Install, then open, and sign up. The trail should list under 'near you'. Tap MORE NEAR YOU if not. Possible too, is a tap on the magnifying glass, then type the trail postcode with space, or 'sash' for all. Tap a trail, then tap STREAM WALK to use online copy. Or tap DOWNLOAD or down-arrow symbol for offline copy, then tap START. Swipe down screen to refresh downloaded copy, in case changed online. Sometimes app exit then app restart are needed to fully refresh downloaded copy. Download might get stuck before reaching 100%. In which case, exit app then restart, and tap STREAM WALK instead. Tips: Like most location apps, ECHOES uses the battery a fair bit. A fully-charged device should be enough for the trail. But you might like to take a powerbank, or spare battery. Plus a paper map as backup. This info is viewable in a browser at https://explore.echoes.xyz/collections/vGvBPOX337oWh3Bj Trail last updated 30 July 2021 21:18

'Where the Paths End' is a collection of 3 different soundwalks around Edinburgh, Birmingham, and London commissioned by Plus Minus Ensemble and Zubin Kanga's Cyborg Soloists UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship at Royal Holloway University of London. Each soundwalk should take about 40 - 50 minutes to experience, and they are located in areas of cultural importance within reasonable walking distance of the venues of the Reid Concert Hall (Edinburgh), Royal Birmingham Conservatoire (Birmingham), and Cafe Oto (London), where live performances of this piece first occurred. Through the presentation of environmental sound the work attempts to offer a record of the sound of three different cities in the early part of 2023. We often have visual records of cities through photographs, paintings etc, but we seldom have sonic representation. What became apparent making these recordings is how loud our cities are, and how much of our audio space is given over to the combustion engine and other anthropophonic sounds. Environmental sounds become the springboard for other musical materials. Each movement takes the resonant frequency of the environmental recording and ornaments it with synthesizers, demonstrating that music, pitch, and even melody can be born from the sound of the environment all around us. These are lessons we learn from Annea Lockwood, Alvin Lucier, and Pauline Oliveros amongst others. In addition, between each movement, a simple drum beat with synth acts as 'headphone music' and carries us from one recorded location to the next. Finally, Where the Paths End is an attempt to incorporate walking, and my lived experience as an artistic practice in a manner similar to visual artists such as Hamish Fulton or Richard Long. There is a real beauty to walking and experiencing our habitat with heightened awareness. In this state we can offer strange interventions. How uncanny and beautiful to experience Edinburgh’s George Square in the dead of winter and hear it teeming with student life on a sunny spring day, or to stand in London’s Dalston Curve Garden and hear the bells of the Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh. It’s as if we can time travel or hover above the earth and eavesdrop on very specific locations simultaneously. All journeys start from home, and this piece begins with sounds created in my house. The poetic title of each moment also comes from home, more specifically poems found in the collection 'Where the Sidewalk Ends' by Shel Silverstein, which my wife was reading to my 4 year-old son during the compositional process. They are not related, but associations are born from happy accidents and experiencing disparate things simultaneously, and I like to think that each movement has something of the character of their title. The poem Where the Sidewalk Ends invites us to walk to a beautiful mythical place ‘with a walk that is measured and slow’. By the same token, I hope that this piece can bring you to a beautiful place measured and slow, whether literal or figurative.

Walk along the Canal and dow Fazeley Street with infos and instructions.

Duration: 30 minutes This walk explores some of the arts spaces around Digbeth reflecting on the changes that the area has seen over the years and will continue to see through continued regeneration

sound to accompany ducks

just testing the functionality of Echoes with five short poems