Abstract
Run is an audio-visual composition comprising the opening work of the SoundRunner research project, which involves collaboration between Berezan and Karageorghis, and is an interdisciplinary investigation bringing together electroacoustic music composition and sport and exercise science. The work was premiered at the EASTN-DC conference 10 November 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden. The USB comprises the original stereo audio-visual version of the work.
The work’s principal research objective was to investigate how audio-visual media and athletic activity can be brought together in terms of artistic subject matter, practical methodology and wider imperatives, exploring the creative potential of audio and video derived from the act and experience of running. Whereas other research explored how music impacts upon performance in sport (Applying Music in Exercise and Sport, Karageorghis, 2017), Run explores the impact of athleticism on electroacoustic music. It also served as an initial pathway for public engagement with the larger SoundRunner project (which seeks to promote public wellbeing through increasing motivation for running and exercise). The source material for Run consisted of audio recordings of running sounds, including footfalls, breath, vocal and body noise of a runner (the composer), alongside running environments, as well as associated video recordings. Training runs on the Trans-Pennine trail in South Manchester as well as Fish Creek Provincial Park in Calgary, Canada were used for the source-material collections. Recordings were captured from both the runner’s own and observer perspectives. The methodology included the use of miniature microphones mounted to running shoes to produce close-microphone recordings of foot impacts as well as for the internal sound and movement of the running shoe itself, thus allowing the arising work to capture the inherent rhythm and motion of the running experience. The approaches taken here produced insights into the creation of a stylistically and aesthetically hybrid work: a concrète form of audio-visual work that is simultaneously autobiographical, documentary, musical and athletic.
The work’s principal research objective was to investigate how audio-visual media and athletic activity can be brought together in terms of artistic subject matter, practical methodology and wider imperatives, exploring the creative potential of audio and video derived from the act and experience of running. Whereas other research explored how music impacts upon performance in sport (Applying Music in Exercise and Sport, Karageorghis, 2017), Run explores the impact of athleticism on electroacoustic music. It also served as an initial pathway for public engagement with the larger SoundRunner project (which seeks to promote public wellbeing through increasing motivation for running and exercise). The source material for Run consisted of audio recordings of running sounds, including footfalls, breath, vocal and body noise of a runner (the composer), alongside running environments, as well as associated video recordings. Training runs on the Trans-Pennine trail in South Manchester as well as Fish Creek Provincial Park in Calgary, Canada were used for the source-material collections. Recordings were captured from both the runner’s own and observer perspectives. The methodology included the use of miniature microphones mounted to running shoes to produce close-microphone recordings of foot impacts as well as for the internal sound and movement of the running shoe itself, thus allowing the arising work to capture the inherent rhythm and motion of the running experience. The approaches taken here produced insights into the creation of a stylistically and aesthetically hybrid work: a concrète form of audio-visual work that is simultaneously autobiographical, documentary, musical and athletic.
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - 2019 |