skalna

During the summer in 2011 I spent a lot of time recording soundscapes in the suburb of Stocki in Lodz, Poland. On one walk near the Skalna road, I found an abandoned mining site. The site's particular sound-world and atmosphere fascinated me instantly. Being a big hole in the ground with reliques of previous work, it was visually and aurally shielded from the city, spreading a timelessness to the spectator which was strengthened by the random squeaking of the old rusty machinery. The ruins of a metal reinforced concrete structure (was the reinforcement not strong enough or did someone just dump it there?) provided the ideal location to put down the recording equipment and start enjoying life, experiencing the space, time and the sun: I was listening to the insects, the creaking of the machinery, the breath of the wind traced in the trees and behaviour of the insects, the passing airplanes. I also played, throwing tiny stones to hear how their impact on the concrete floor would sound. And actively listening to the environment made me aware of its own musical rhythms: the spatial interplay of the insects (and stones), the slower coming and going of the wind, the looming of airplanes, the omnipresent metal. Thanks to the location recorder and a couple of microphones I could capture the space's sonic aspects and fabricate a vivid, surreal and dramatised version of the found landscape.