Sounding Belfast During Covid-19 (Lockdowns)
What you need: Mobile phone + headphones/earphones
Instructions: Go to one of the 17 locations on the map (listed below), walk into the circle, and audio will play (can press pause/play also).
Description:
During a global pandemic, countries and cities have become literal ghost towns. Once flustered with sounds from human activities, it has now been overtaken from the once subtle industrial, urban, and natural sound environments. Recording multiple points during the lockdown, we are able to chronologically experience the differences imposed by Covid-19 restrictions and how these spaces have changed from the start of the global pandemic. The recordings focus on periods of Lockdowns (1-3), the Exit Strategies (Summers 2020 and 2021), as well as the Removed Restrictions.
Currently, there are 78 audio files on the map and 17 areas recorded:
Albert Memorial Clock
Arthur Square
Belfast City Hall
Botanic Gardens
Cathedral Quarter
Church Lane
Commercial Court
Dublin Road
Great Victoria Street
Laverys Bar Belfast
Lisburn Road
Queen’s Arcade
Queen’s University Belfast
Shaftesbury Square
St-Anne’s Cathedral
The Entries
Bridge Street
This project reflects through an auditory and sonic art perspective how the city sounds like without the presence of humans or the normal amount of human density in popular areas in public spaces of Belfast.
Post-experience survey: https://forms.office.com/r/Fp1PwthWS2
Information
Creator: Georgios Varoutsos, PhD student at the Sonic Arts Research Centre, Queen's University Belfast
Website: https://georgiosvaroutsos.com/
Research Project: https://georgiosvaroutsos.com/covid-19/
