I arrived late to this class only to find that Robbie was running late. With the class all waiting in an air of uncertainty as to whether or not Robbie would arrive, the space already had a slightly tense atmosphere that had me thinking about how a space carries certain expectations and meaning. Robbie did eventually arrive, releasing the tension and surprising me when he announced that it was in fact accidental and not planned to have us thinking about the aims of the studio.

Robbie introduced himself via some of his artistic work, comprising a series of abstract site-specific sculptures that recycled and reimagined the spaces that they occupied. This was a great insight into Robbie’s expertise in relation to the course and gave me confidence as well as more curiosity in what we’ll be exploring.

We spent the majority of the class introducing ourselves via our aims with the subject and respective courses at large, each of us finishing with the recollection of our earliest memory. This provided some fascinating insights and everyone described their memories in such a way that they were flavoured with personality and nostalgia. As I searched for my earliest memory I realised that a lot of early, seminal experiences for me were engrossed in video gaming. I feel a great deal of sentimental attachment to certain video games from my early childhood as a result of this. My brother’s role in guiding me through games as a way of teaching me to read and understand certain mechanisms also means that he is attached to this sentimentality.

In recalling this memory I feel as though I have some direction already in the sort of spaces I might be investigating, i.e. visual spaces and how they can be experienced. I have recently developed a very keen interest in the field of video game music and sound design so I feel as though some research into visual spaces may compliment my passion.

How I listen

Being a musical person, I am always drawn to music whenever it is playing or even when I have a moment to myself. I feel as though I’m almost always listening to music, with looping fragments of musical moments always swimming around my head. I’m more passionate about the sonics than I am the lyricism often attached to music, so when I listen to music I am very conscious of the arrangement in both a musical and technical sense and am drawn to the coordination of layers and instrumentations. This means that it often takes me quite a few listens before I can digest lyrical content as I am more naturally drawn to the phrasing, timbre and overall sonic character of the vocal.

As a result, I feel as though I’m quite an inattentive listener in a more broad sense. I am often quite oblivious to my surroundings and have to focus quite intently on conversations as I am wont to drift frequently. However, when I am engaged with something I feel as though I can absorb a great deal of information. When I am consciously activating and attempting to focus my listening abilities, I am often trying to weave together a story to give me a sort of temporal understanding of what I am listening to that I can recall if I need to.