Silence
of a Distant View - Look-out platform Liquorice Park at Carline Road
At
the upper edge of the park is a wooden viewing platform. Breathe
deeply, inhale the view out over the city to the horizon.
This
viewscape is part of Liquorice Park, a local community volunteer
project to preserve the site for public use and includes allotments,
fruit trees, and work by local artists. And yes, liquorice was grown
here once.
Notice
the vague rumbling, an incessant base noise created by a multitude of
actions, and then the variety of distinct sounds that arrive on the
air. Sounds rise up, or come from above, or move both ways across the
panorama. Many are not identifiable but some are - can you un-name
them, let it all just be sound?
This
compilation of sound contrasts with the big silence of the view
itself. We think there's empty space out there because it's
invisible. We take the air for granted but we're intimately, wholly
dependent on it and must share it with all others.
However
we do hear it - in the murmuring leaves, the sighing grasses, the
vital wind, and in the way the sounds in this view are carried to
you. We also hear the silent invisible air in our breathing, our
voices, and songs.
Experiment
- breathe in deeply, listen, and hear tangible air rouse the things
around you. We may start to remember what it is to be fully in our
world.