Sediment: Exploring the layers of Victoria Park

David Smith

Sediment is a journey through a physical space, guided by the technology of satellite signals and hand held computers. All you have to do is walk. It explores the layers of Victoria Park in Bristol, but this could be any park in any city.

I record the past, the present, the future of this community, through interviews, soundscape and image . These experiences echo many communities. My work is about shared stories.

Sediment is about a community around a park. But I am part of that community. So do their experiences become part of my experience? Or does mine become part of theirs? My experiences are not unique. When I share them, I am allowing others in the community to open up to their own experiences and stories.

What narratives exist to help us build a picture of our environment? Sound shapes the elements that make the park come alive and provide us with those narratives. Through the everyday, but often ignored; the rare, the unexpected, the surprise; the voices of the area; through these elements I form a landscape highlighting events and features that draw my attention, revive ghosts of the park’s past and give voice to the present.

By my selection of sounds and images, Sediment provides clues to my own engagement with Victoria Park. This project exists in the location using GPS handheld computers and mScape software and on the web. It has also existed in the gallery as a collection of images and sound. All provide signposts to the life of a community; of any community.

For more information please visit www.treasuremind.org/
David Smith