Sonic movements – spatial reflexivity

This article aims to investigate the creation of space and sound in artistic and architectural fields, with particular emphasis on the notions of interval and duration in the production and experience of soundscapes. The discussion arises out of an ongoing research project concerning sonic structures in public places, in which Japanese uguisubari (– ‘nightingale flooring’, an alarm system from the Edo period) plays a key role in developing new kinds of site-specific and location-responsive sonic architectural structures for urban and rural environments. This paper takes uguisubari as its frame for investigating and evaluating how sounds create a space (however temporary), and how that sound in turn is created through movement. It thus seeks to unpick aspects of the reciprocal and performative act in which participant and the space engage through movement, whilst creating a sonic environment that permeates, defines and composes the boundaries of this space. The article will develop a framework for these kinds of works through a discussion on walking, movement, soundscape and somatechnical aspects of our experience of the world, drawing upon the work of Merleau-Ponty, Bergson and the Japanese concept of Ma (space-time).