Ambulation

Ambulation – LUFF, Lausanne, Switzerland [Image: François Gendre, 2020]

Ambulation is an live augmented soundwalking practice that uses listening and sound processing technologies to harvest diverse sounds from the immediate environment, and present it back to a participant group moving through a soundscape.

Ambulation holding contact mic on escalator Ambulation – Sonic Protest, Paris, France [Image: Vincent Ducard, 2021]

Drawing on field recording techniques, Tim Shaw collects acoustic sounds, electro-magnetic waves and other diverse signals through different microphones and sensors. As he walks, he transmits these sounds to audience members walking with him, each of whom are wearing wireless headphones. He processes and mixes these sounds using a specially made system.

What unfolds is an unusual, live field-recording performance responding to the different soundscapes it is presented within.

AMBULATION SOUND WALK - walking through the city with a group of people Ambulation – Compass Festival, Leeds, UK [Image: Jonathan Turner, 2017]

Each performance is specific to its geographical and temporal context. The listening technologies and sound processing systems are revisited in each performance in order to respond to the environmental context of each particular event. As a result this project is never finished and continues to be developed with each new invitation to walk. Ambulation has been in continuous development since 2014.

NO PRE-RECORDED MATERIAL, NO FIXED MEDIA, LIVE IMPROVISED AMPLIFIED LISTENING, PARASIGNALS ARE WELCOME, FIELD RECORDING AS A PERFORMANCE ACTIVITY, WALKING AS A COMPOSITIONAL STRUCTURE, WALKING THROUGH SYSTEMS OF FAILURE, AESTHETICS OF INTERFACING, COLLECTIVE LISTENING, UNKNOWING

Alt text Ambulation – Sonica Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia [Image: Kaja Brezočnik, 2019]

Ambulation has been performed over 50 times at the following events:

Peninsula Sounds, Hamble Peninsula, UK
Cheeseburn, Northumberland, UK
Cobalt Studios, Newcastle, UK
Cuthbert’s Moor, Durham, UK w/ Laura Harrington & WaterlandsEU
Sool Sool Centre, Seoul, South Korea
ESAAIX, Aix-en-Provence, France w/ Peter Sinclair and Cedric Parizot
Collegium Helveticum, Zurich, Switzerland
ZHdK, Zurich, Switzerland w/ Hannes Rickli
To)pot Festival, Ljubijana, Slovenia w/ Elena Biserna & CONA
Full of Noises, Barrow-in-Furness, UK
Fellfoot Sounds, Into The Woods, Cumbria, UK
xCoAx, Weimar, Germany
Heugh Battery Museum, Hartleypool Headland, UK w/ Rob Smith
Sonic Arts Week, Middlesbrough, UK w/ Auxiliary
Kallio Kuninkala, Järvenpää, Finland w/ Uniarts & Walking Festival of Sound
Cobalt Studios, Newcastle, UK
Sonohr Festival, Bern, Switzerland
ESAAIX, Aix-en-Provence, France w/ Acoustic Commons
Bureau des Guides, Aix-en-Provence, France
Symbiont, Basel, Switzerland
Cervia, Italy w/ Elementi Festival
German Maritime Museum, Bremerhaven, Germany
Meryin, Geneva, Switzerland w/ Konnekt
Ravenglass, Cumbria, UK w/ RE-DRIFT & Full of Noises
Dunston, Gateshead, UK w/ Dingy Butterflies
SoundCamp, Breil-sur-Roya, France w/ Locus Sonus
MUMUTH, Graz, Austria
Der Blöde Dritte Mittwoch, Vienna, Austria
Duke Hags Wood, Prudhoe, UK w/ Wild Musuem
Jeanne Barret, Marseille, France w/ Explorations Festival
Milkwellburn Woods, Chopwell, Gateshead
Zeiträume Festival, Basel, Switzerland
Sanatorium of Sound, Sokołowsko, Poland
Sonic Protest, Paris, France
NNOI Festival, Brandenburg, Germany
LOKAL-INT, Biel, Switzerland
LUFF, Lausanne, Switzerland
We’re All Bats, Online, Worldwide
Walking Festival of Sound, Newcastle, UK
Sonica Festival, Ljubljana, Slovenia
Walking Festival of Sound, Stockholm, Sweden
Full of Noises Festival, Barrow-in-Furness, UK
CAMP, Aulus-les-Bains, France
Brighton Dome, Brighton, UK
Middlesbrough Art Weekender, Middlesbrough, UK
Dorothea Quarry (with James Davoll) in North Wales, UK
SPAN at BALTIC (with Its Nice That and Google) in Gateshead, UK
Piksel Festival in Bergen, Norway
Compass Festival in Leeds, UK
FACT (Foundation for Art and Technology) in Liverpool, UK
Sonic Environments in Brisbane, Australia
Research Through Design conference in Cambridge, UK
The Newbridge Project, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK
Musée Imaginaire in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, UK

Alt text Ambulation – CAMP, Aulus-les-Bains, France [Image: Bruno Mello, 2019]

ambulation walking through an underpass with electromagnetic receiver Ambulation – LUFF, Lausanne, Switzerland [Image: François Gendre, 2020]

Alt text Ambulation – Lokal-INT, Biele, Switzerland [Image: Chri Frautschi, 2020]

ambulation at salty in Italy Ambulation Soundwalk in the Saltern of Cervia, Italy as part of Elementi Festival 2022 [Image: Chiara Pavolucci, 2022]

ambulation dipping a hydrophone in the river in Leeds Ambulation – Compass Festival, Leeds, UK [Image: Jonathan Turner, 2017]

A paper on Ambulation and the processes behind it was written for the New Interfaces for Musical Expression conference in collaboration with John Bowers. Its open access and available here.

A chapter on Ambulation is featured in Jacek Smolicki’s book on Soundwalking

Technical details for Ambulation are available on the Bela Platform blog

The Ambulation system has been used for other projects such as Inner Voices, NET-WALK and The Rose Walks.

Alt text Ambulation – Full of Noises, Barrow-upon-Furness, UK [Image: Laurence Campell, 2023]

Alt text Ambulation – Sonic Protest, Paris, France [Image: Vincent Ducard, 2021]

Alt text Ambulation – Brighton Dome, Brighton, UK [Image: OnTheNorway, 2019]