Viv Corringham

Walking

Innova #872

 

1. Maresia  08:57

2. Skywalks  07:34

3. Island Lines  09:44

4. Disegno  03:38

5. Slack Tide  05:32

6. Town with Sea  09:35

7. Broken Land  04:46

(49:46)

 

Vocals by Viv Corringham

 

My thanks to everyone who walked with me in Porto, Minneapolis, Hong Kong, London and Brooklyn: Anne, Armando, Brian, Carolina, Derek, Erik, Joana, Jose Pedro, Samuel, Somely, Tomás & Yang

 

www.vivcorringham.org

 

These works were all composed between 2009 and 2013. Most are part of my ongoing project Shadow-walks in which I request to be taken on a special walk with an individual, a walk that has been repeated many times and has meaning for the person. We walk together and I record the conversations and environmental sounds. I then repeat the walk alone, attempting to sense my previous companion’s traces on the now solitary walk and to make the memory of shared time and experience audible through singing. These compositions integrate singing, narration and the sounds of the place.

 

1. Maresia and 6. Town with Sea are both set in Porto, Portugal and were made possible by Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art. Six people took me on their special walks: by the port, through a park, up to a panoramic bar, along a promenade, to the shops and beside the sea.

 

2. Skywalks is based on my fascination with the skyway system of Minneapolis: eight miles of climate-controlled passages and bridges which have brought the city indoors, transporting pedestrians above street level to shops and workplaces and passing through indoor courtyards where trees and fountains recall the outside world.

 

3. Island Lines is set in Hong Kong and was made possible by the organization Soundpocket. In the vibrant, multi-layered sonic environment of Hong Kong three people volunteered to take me on walks: one to the market street where she grew up, another to a peaceful spot by the harbour and the third on a regular walk to the library.

 

4. Disegno and 5. Slack Tide are both from London, my former hometown. Two artists took me on walks near their homes, one in Little Venice and the other in East London beside the River Thames.

 

7. Broken Land occurred in Brooklyn by the polluted Gowanus Canal, on a walk in the company of a Dutch poet. Proteus Gowanus gallery presented the work.

 

 

Viv Corringham biography

 

Viv Corringham is a British vocalist, sound artist and composer, currently based in New York, who has worked internationally since the early 1980s. She was a McKnight Composer fellow in 2006 and 2012 through the American Composers Forum. She has an MA Sonic Art from Middlesex University, London, UK and a certificate in Deep Listening from composer Pauline Oliveros.

 

She is interested in exploring people’s special relationship with familiar places and how that links to personal history, memory and association. These concerns are at the heart of her ongoing project Shadow-walks, which has so far occurred in 18 places in the USA, Canada, Asia and Europe. The experiences and materials gathered on these walks find their way into sound installations, recordings and concert pieces.

 

She leads listening walks and has created a free iPhone app that uses the device’s GPS to activate different soundworks on a walk. Called Arrivals, it was launched in 2012 at Deep Listening Institute, Kingston NY.

 

Her work has been presented recently at Institute of Contemporary Arts London; Around Sound Art Festival Hong Kong; Abrons Arts Center New York City; Tempo Reale Festival Florence; Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art Porto; C33 Gallery Chicago and Tate Modern London.

 

Articles about her work have appeared in many publications, including In the Field (UK), Anthology of Essays on Deep Listening (USA), Organised Sound (UK), Musicworks (Canada), Playing With Words (UK) and For Those Who Have Ears (Ireland).

 

More information can be found at www.vivcorringham.org

 

Acknowledgements

 

I am very grateful to all the walkers who have shared their time and their walks with me. This project would not have been possible without their generosity. I am also grateful to the McKnight Foundation, whose composer fellowships allowed me the time and resources to travel and make this work.

 

Composition, vocals, recording and mixing by Viv Corringham.

Mastering on Maresia and Town with Sea by Mike Olson at Intuitive, Minneapolis.

 

Innova is supported by an endowment from the McKnight Foundation.

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Chris Campbell, operations manager

Steve McPherson, publicist

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