vapour music

‘this is what william wordsworth recognised, when his poetic imagination allowed him to comment: ‘in nature everything is distinct, yet nothing defined into absolute, independent singleness.’¹ …’instead of regarding the tree as an object, set in unnatural juxtaposition with and in opposition to its natural neighbourhood, we understand it as a flow-form, like a river that simultaneously shapes and is shaped by the landscape it gathers and discharges from.’² …’by bringing space from the empty background into the open foreground of our attention, we have been seeking what i can perhaps best describe as an involution of the damaging way that so many of us have been taught to think.’³ …’in seeking this definitive hard edge, we attempt the impossible, to edge out ‘space’ from ‘matter’ so that only material structure can be quantified · all else is set aside as immaterial’⁴
(alan rayner – naturesscope – ¹p68 ²p46 ³p39 ⁴p56, o-books, 2011)

dew-point #1 (río amazonas, peru)

details

 

 

 

project: vapour music (turning points)
location: upper amazon, peru
date: march 2017

field recording: capturing the moment of change between the sibilance of night creatures and the cacophony of daytime life
recording situation: daybreak from a river skiff on the black water tributary, yarapa caño
recording type: digital mid-side
facilitated by: linblad / national geographic new york
field guide: ericson pinedo

dew point images: digital photography
photographic situation: the forest at daybreak through a river boat window with exterior condensation
giclee prints:  100% cotton giclee
dew point #1: 340mm x 256mm
dew point #2: 340mm x 256mm

vapour music: a sound piece in three movements
part one: rise
part two: fall
part three: fluctuate

 

 

daybreak on the black water tributary, yarapa caño

stark against impressions of immensity
fixed by an early dew point
dead night insects
flattened by droplets
on the riverboat’s window
through the vapour
a softened moon
looming trees
and the ceaseless river
winding through

moments before daybreak
the long hull of a skiff
its peaty wake
bow still
we navigate hidden creeks
leafy side channels
moor quietly
and capture sound

floating
listening
above the root-water
by dark green walls
the oily surface
undulating
tannin black
silt red
tree frogs chirping
night insect sibilance
and later
a moment of change
of light opening
avian and primate
calls rising
vying
for sonic position
in the soft
wet heat

dew-point #2 (río amazonas, peru)

  • daybreak (río amazonas, peru)

  • dusk (río amazonas, peru)

  • dew-point #3-5 (río amazonas, peru)

river storm (río amazonas, peru)

  • weaver bird nests (yarapa caño, río amazonas, peru)

  • daybreak recording (yarapa caño, río amazonas, peru)