I am delighted to be Co Investigator on this major AHRC project, which started in September 2020 and is running until the end of 2022. It aims to recreate soundscapes of the past and explore the use of sound in heritage contexts. The project emanates from soundscape studies and will examine the sound environments of past incarnations of the Chatham Historic Dockyard.
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.
My grandfather trained as an apprentice in the Dockyard during the late 1940’s and as an avid local historical volunteered in the Dockyard’s museum, and served for many years as the editor of the Chatham Dockyard Historical Societies Journal.
I originally conceived this project as a post-doctoral research project following on from my research and involvement with the Affective Digital Histories project and my appearances on Radio 4, but it has evolved in collaboration with Dr Aki Pasoulas to bring in Dr Brona Martin as post doctoral research associate.
It is, however, a project with very deep personal connections for me and I am delighted that the AHRC has decided to fund this research.
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