SOUNDSCAPE: FLUSHING, QUEENS, NY
HYUNCH SUNG

"The landscape exists because we sense it with our eyes, ears, nose, and skin...

Acoustic landscapes allow us to experience a space without the normal cultural and intellectual values we have been taught. It forces us to step outside of pictorial landscape painting, into viscous rhythm and musicality. Most importantly, sound implies listening. Listening is both an act of empathy and spatial awareness...

The noise of Flushing, Queens is the sound of buses, subways, traffic, and wind. The voice of Flushing is composed of the 143 different languages spoken in Queens County. This urban sound score was created using binaural microphones, which record from two directions simultaneously in order to give the recording a three-dimensional, spatial effect...

The average sound volume in Flushing is 80 decibels; airplanes from nearby LaGuardia Airport fly overhead every 15 minutes. The subway vibrates underground, then above ground. The sound score begins in at the center of Flushing Queens where we hear voices intertwined with noise. As we progress towards the Bay, the noise of infrastructure is dominant, and the voices disappear. The sound score ends at Flushing Bay with wind, airplane, and cars. No human voices. The terminus is at the polluted Flushing Bay where the main subway goes underwater to the other side."

Listen to the landscape below. Check out the full article in the hard-copy issue of GU 06 OF PROCESS.