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Whispers in Kanji Wood

This research explored a sense of place by placing digital sounds within the natural fauna of sounds as an augmentation of the naturally occurring sound landscape. Kanji Wood is a small area of woodland within the Affan Forest in South Wales that has been adopted by a Japanese community living in Bridgend and is twinned with a wood in the foothills of the Kurohime High Lands in the Nagano prefecture of Japan. The sound samples reflect on the previous industrial activity within the forest and layer this past with Haiku poetry and phrases collected from the local community reflecting on their woodland. The sounds are carefully enveloped and set at volumes that allow them to blend with the sonic ambience of the woodland. They are also triggered randomly allowing endless variations in the layering of sounds. The sound pods were slung discretely within the tree canopy and powered by solar panels positioned on the trunk of a south-facing tree. This has required the development of novel systems of configuring solar panel technology with low powered digital sound modules allowing placement of these sounds away from urban centres or buildings. Sounds are triggered in location by the presence and movement of people. The solar powering of the work has ecological resonance, but is also a practical solution to creating autonomous sound units. This project was funded by Arts Council Wales and directed by Groundworks Wales. The piece was in place throughout 2010 and was designed to use small amounts of energy allowing it to work through the low light period of the winter.