Has it ever happened to you while passing by a familiar place that you noticed or heard something for the first time? Something that was always there but because you were not attentive enough it passed unnoticed?
With this in mind, in 2013 created an augmented, slowly growing and playful map of Belfast assembled by tagging specific telecommunication boxes, those emitting an audible drone (continuous hum). The tagging process, which was completed in 2019, slowly created a network of people involved in the project. The aim was to engage people with the space around them, to understand how sound shapes our everyday life, while transforming sound mapping into a shared experience of the city.
For obvious reasons I started mapping places closer to me. Places I pass by daily and therefore have a closer relationship with or remember vividly. By inviting other people to participate in the process, this activity was designed to spread throughout Belfast and create a stronger connection with the city. Participants were invited to wander the city and email me the location of any spotted box with a very short text indicating:
1 / If the box was spotted by chance or it was located in a familiar place
2 / A description of the area surrounding the box
3 / What was the time and date that the box was spotted
Relevant Info:
1 / Make sure you have a QR Code reader on your phone!
2 / The posters life is ephemeral – as it always is – but you can still track all the tagged boxes through this archive.
3 / This project is designed to work cross-browser and on both Android and iOS.
4 / X Marks The Spot is a project by Matilde Meireles.