The aural lookout

2012

During the Binaural Nodar residency in rural Portugal I got to know a few small villages and the remaining elderly inhabitants. The once cheerful places and the people showed no signs of the many festivities of the past. Though they couldn’t remember all the lyrics anymore I asked several elderlies to sing a local folksong and later composed a choir-piece from the bits and pieces. The aural lookout is standing on a well house, filled with water for the region, overseeing the villages. The coir-piece is played through speakers inside the well house, using the water as an amplifier to create a church-like atmosphere. Walking inside the aural lookout, the visitors hear the choir as well as their own steps and vibrations through headphones that are connected to microphones below.