GENE DUVAL

Co-written with Estefania Acosta

Chapter in Senses in Cities: Experiences of Urban Settings

Edited by Kelvin E.Y. Low, Devorah Kalekin-Fishman

 

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Water trickles off the side of the fountain, water gurgles out the spouts…splashing, pattering, and bubbling out into the air, the splattering sounds of the fountain are the susurrus of the water speaking to the steady traffic, the distant conversations, and the occasional plane. The practice of walking in the city, our experiences of constructed space, as well as the narrative created by social encounters, are all deeply personal and sonically influenced. This chapter looks at how sound in spatial encounters affects the body and how the body affects it in return—the embodiment of place through sound. It also looks at the interplay between sound, embodied spaces, and placemaking as a means of gathering acoustic knowledge and transforming the (sonic) self. In this interpretation of the city, the body is used as a site while sounds create instances of disruptions and distractions and the creation of private space in the public landscape. Sound in this analysis takes on the quality of acting as a social mediator as well as an element that contributes to a specific cultural, social, and environmental context. For this analysis, we consider the Jane and David Walentas Fountain outside the Brooklyn Museum in New York City as an instance in which sonic events are evident and yet overlooked, as they enable the spontaneous and ephemeral appearance of social spaces.