Fresh Ground: After Hours - Field Notes and Reflections by Nathan Stretch in conversation with Deanna Yerichuk

Deanna and I had a conversation on site directly after Deanna experienced Fresh Ground: After Hours: a site-specific, immersive and sounded exhibit to be experienced at Fresh Ground (256-A King Street East, Kitchener, Ontario). Elements of the exhibit include soundscape, soundtrack, and curated imagery. The participant is required to wear stereophonic headphones. The sounded elements of the exhibit are calibrated for a specific, seated location and direction within Fresh Ground.  Access to the exhibit is by invitation only. Fresh Ground: After Hours can only be experienced outside of Fresh Ground’s regular open hours.

This project is an arts-based inquiry and autoethnography practically inspired by the work of Barton and Windeyer (2012), their understanding of immersive experiences featuring binaural recording and stereophonic playback through headphones, and the interweaving of soundtrack and soundscape in site-specific theatrical installations. Sounded elements for Fresh Ground: After Hours were recorded on-site for playback on-site as soundscape; the authors suggested that an audience experiencing soundtrack and soundscape in this was may find the sensation extra-immersive.  

Ellis, Adams and Bochner (2011) contribute a useful explanation of autoethnography wherein the methodology considers the positioning of the researcher: the researcher is embedded in complex relationship with self, subject and fluid reality. This approach satisfies the complex nature of the subject matter (Fresh Ground), process (the creation, capture and curation of soundscape, soundtrack and visuals), and product (Fresh Ground: After Hours) by situating the researcher (me) and my understanding/epiphany in a world where my experience must be found truthful and meaningful to a discerning audience — in this case, Deanna Yerichuk.

By framing Fresh Ground: After Hours as arts-based research I was able to commit to an “enacted, living inquiry” (Springgay, Irwin, and Kind, 2005, p. 3) in disrupted space. A/r/tographers are open to new courses of action in the in-between — space created or even ruptured by interdisciplinary activity — allowing for potentially meaningful intervention in liminal place via soundtrack, soundscape, composition and videography. Not unlike autoethnography, both process and product are valued as vehicles for knowing in arts-based research. I gathered meaning and expanded my understanding during the creation, presentation, discursive and reflective portions of this inquiry. 

Ken Westhues and Joe & Stephanie Mancini detail The Working Centre and its practical philosophies in “The Working Centre: Experiment in Social Change” (1995)  and “Transition to Common Work” (2015) respectively. The Working Centre — of which Fresh Ground is an emergent project and place — considers itself liminal to the increasingly bureaucratic and impersonal nature of the modern, prevalent institution. Real and reciprocal relationships are cultivated at The Working Centre; the surprising results of which are celebrated, validated, and often disruptive to the status quo. A dialogic approach to authenticity — in which we acknowledge that fulsome identity is not formed in a vacuum but rather as a result of relationship — is an idea explored by Charles Taylor in “The Ethics of Authenticity” (1991) and practically realized within the relationship-based, non-hierarchical, deprofessionalized practice of The Working Centre.

Field notes and reflections in conversation with Deanna Yerichuk

●      Being present for the experience of Fresh Ground: After Hours — and attempting to recognize the present from within the present — is meaningful in relation to this exercise. Autoethnography values product and process by collapsing them into one another and rendering them interdependent (Ellis et al., 2011).

○      Therefore a present experience is desired as the product and the process are collapsed into the moment 

●      How do you maintain your presence in a space as ethic? In service of emergence? In service of dialogic relationship to space and others (Taylor, 1991; Westhues, 1995)?

○      The deliberate and immersive nature of Fresh Ground: After Hours may contribute to a participant's ability to be present

○      Replaying the sounded elements of Fresh Ground — that were collected in Fresh Ground — back within Fresh Ground may contribute significantly to extra- immersion in the experience for the participant (Barton and Windeyer, 2012)

○      The soundtrack should provide a gentle, guided element to the sounded experience. The soundtrack is inherently more directional than the soundscape (Barton and Windeyer, 2012)

○      Displaying curated, close-up imagery of the architectural elements of Fresh Ground may help guide the audience towards a present, immersive experience in much the same way that replaying the sounded elements does (Barton and Windeyer, 2012).  This idea is not explicitly explored by Barton and Windeyer, but it rather a theory I am exploring based on their practice of replaying sounded elements back in the space they recorded them 

●      The cultivation of meaningful relationship is an important principle of The Working Centre. Practicing reciprocity within this exercise gets the participant closer to the meaning of The Working Centre — and Fresh Ground at The Working Centre — and a more authentic understanding of the organization (Mancini, J. & S., 2015; Taylor, 1991)

●      Fresh Ground, as experienced after hours, is inherently a liminal experience. The view from the edge can give us special understanding of the core of the identity of Fresh Ground (Ellis et al., Mancini, J. & S., 2015; 2011; Springgay et al., 2005)

●      My (Nathan’s) influence is felt in the experience (Ellis et al., 2011)

●      What do I know that you can’t know? And is some of what I know transferable to
the participant via this medium (Ellis et al., 2011; Springgay et al., 2005)?

●      Is specific knowledge of the author of the experience important for the audience (Ellis et al., 2011)?

●      There is no un-hosted experience of Fresh Ground; there is no “pure” experience — the host just changes (recognizing that the city coming through the windows is as much a reputable host as the people who occupy the space).  Fresh Ground: After Hours is inherently dialogic (Mancini, J. & S., 2015; Taylor, 1991)

●      Fresh Ground exists as part of layered space/place (Mancini, J. & S., 2015)

○      Above Fresh Ground are eight supported housing units: home for eight of the most acutely complex individuals in our community

○      Below the cafe is the “Bike Pit” — an extension of Recycle Cycles (The Working Centre’s bike shop) — where people fix up old bikes for resale at accessible pricing to the community

○      Beside Fresh Ground is the Commons Studio: an access to technology project of The Working Centre that focuses on film and digital storytelling tools

○      Supportive housing and the Commons Studio are projects of The Working Centre where I hold responsibility as a coordinator.  Fresh Ground is inherently a layered experience for and of the artist (me)

●      The experience of Fresh Ground: After Hours was beautiful, immersive, and complex for Deanna

○      Deanna could have participated in the experience for longer, and would have happily participated in a looped version of Fresh Ground: After Hours

○      Almost meditative

○      Not directional like a story

○      A feeling of unfolding

○      The curation, the intentional, and the deliberate were all felt and experienced as guide

○      A simulacrum: Deanna recognized her experience as a facsimile layered on top of a facsimile which might combine to suggest an authentic understanding of Fresh Ground

○      It is likely that the participant will bring the experience of Fresh Ground: After Hours with them when visiting Fresh Ground in the future (during open hours, or for an event in the space). The after-hours experience will contribute to the kind of a layered, complex understanding of Fresh Ground that is desired as ethic by The Working Centre (Mancini, J. & S., 2015; Taylor, 1991)

●      Soundscape, soundtrack, and curated imagery in Fresh Ground: After Hours

○      If the cafe was open, would you bring soundscape in with you via headphones? Or be attentive to the naturally occurring soundscape?

■      On a practical note, the headphones Deanna used muffled the naturally occurring soundscape. I would supply open-back headphones in the future to allow for the flow-through of the immediate soundscape as recommended by Barton and Windeyer (2012).

○      Deanna and I mused that bringing soundtrack into Fresh Ground with you on a device and listening to it via headphones during open hours may actually reduce immersion: the audience may feel like an observer as opposed to a participant in the space — you might feel like you are in a movie. You might feel apart

●      Was the soundtrack prepared for Fresh Ground: After Hours the result of my feelings or mood? This was a useful question that Deanna lobbed into the conversation.  The insights and ideas articulated in the following points on the subject are my own, both gleaned from the recording of my conversation with Deanna (as we fleshed them out together) and upon further reflection after-the-fact. These ideas are not rooted in the literature (except where specifically noted) so much as they are a result of my compositional experience, organizational understanding, and desire to engage others in the music and meaning of The Working Centre. 

○      It was my intention to bring my experience of the place to bear on the composition, and to allow the space to suggest compositional elements

■      This was a strategy I employed to temper my subjectivity and engage with another musical paradigm without sacrificing deep subjectivity and personal meaning

○      I recognize that music is an excellent vessel for feelings, and that the soundtrack is full of feeling. Music is emotive and “of mood” almost always. It may be possible to engage with a history of feeling and depth of experience to capture complexity in the composition that is meaningful without having a single, mood-based signifier (this song was sad, this song was hopeful, this song was jubilant). The music may be evocative (provocative?) without being prescriptive. The evocative experience of the soundtrack would ideally induce “thoughtful-feeling” or “feelingful-thought”

●      The present isn’t reductive; a soundtrack created for a discerning future audience can be relevant in the present of the listener. The present expands from the centre of a dichotomous plane (between The Past and The Future) to include elements of the past and the future in a widening sphere of influence. The present is the collapsing of the past and the future into the moment  (Ellis et al., 2011; Springgay et al., 2005; Taylor, 1991)

●      The soundtrack and soundscape weaved together in a way that was significant, and was relevant beyond the moment of composition for Deanna. The soundtrack emerged from the soundscape and was a continuation of the overall unfolding experience (Barton and Windeyer, 2012; Springgay et al., 2005)

○      It is important to note again that it is the replaying of sounded elements of the space back in the space that is significant, not just the experience of a naturally occurring soundscape (Barton and Windeyer, 2012)

○      The soundscape had both familiar and mysterious elements to it for Deanna

●      Some of the images were both extra-revelatory and complementary to the soundscape and architectural elements, others were more abstract — more symbolic, contributing to disrupted and evocative space (Barton and Windeyer, 2012; Springgay et al., 2005)

○      The visual element (largely still images taken close-up) was an experiment in analogizing the idea of replaying the sounded elements of a space back within the space (Barton and Windeyer, 2012)

■      An omniscient viewpoint: the imagery showed some things that the audience can’t see from their vantage point, and some things that they can — albeit close-up — contributing to to layered, disrupted space

○      The less obvious images and sounds of Fresh Ground: After Hours represented intellectual and emotional meaning, but knowing exactly what they meant wasn’t as important as the overall immersive experience (Barton and Windeyer, 2012). The intentionality of the images, sounded elements, and soundtrack is more important than concrete understanding (Springgay et al., 2005)

○      “If something is deliberate, it may also be truthful, even if I don’t understand it in the moment” (I’m quoting myself here as I listen back to our recorded conversation).  This idea occurred to me while in conversation with Deanna, and seems to hold truth outside of the experience of Fresh Ground: After Hours and ensuing conversation

■      Future audiences may be amenable to the above philosophy, especially considering that future participants will be intentionally searching for a deeper understanding of The Working Centre. The experience is being crafted as a response to the desire from people to know more specifically about The Working Centre: to have a deeper experience

●      This is a potential audience (and audience predisposition) that I — and others at The Working Centre — have identified in conversation amongst ourselves and others

■      Fresh Ground: After Hours could be one of a suite of experiences that represent and reflect significant spaces of The Working Centre.  This is a possible strategy for my capstone project

References

Barton B., Windeyer R. (2012). Immersive negotiations: Binaural perspectives on site-specific sound. In A. Birch & J. Tompkins (Eds.), Performing site-specific theatre. (pp. 182-200). doi: 10.1057/9781137283498_12

Ellis, C., Adams, T., & Bochner, A. (2011). Autoethnography: An Overview. Historical Social Research / Historische Sozialforschung, 36(4 (138)), 273-290. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/23032294

Springgay, S., Irwin, R. L., & Kind, S. W. (2005). A/r/tography as Living Inquiry Through Art and Text. Qualitative Inquiry,11(6), 897-912. doi:10.1177/1077800405280696

Taylor, C. (1991). The Ethics of Authenticity. Massachusetts: Harvard University Press

Westhues, K. (1995). The Working Centre: Experiment in Social Change. Kitchener: Working Centre Publications