‘9 variations 35 instances: multiple ways to navigate Belfast’ is part of Scoring the City
project, an experiment at the intersection of urbanism and experimental music takes
inspiration from graphic scores in music as dynamic forms that could offer new ways of
notating the relationship between design ideas, built form, and social life: in other words,
between scoring and performing urban space.’
Scoring the City was conceived and led jointly by Gascia Ouzounian (University of Oxford /
Recomposing the City) and John Bingham-Hall (Theatrum Mundi) with research and
coordination support from Fani Kostourou (Theatrum Mundi) and Conor McCafferty
(Queen‘s University Belfast). It is funded by The Oxford Research Centre for the Humanities,
and was supported in kind by London College of Communication, Plateau Urbain, and
Belfast Harbour Commissioners.
‘9 variations 35 instances: multiple ways to navigate Belfast’ can be played by one or
multiple persons. This graphical score compiles the sounds produced by each of the thirty-
five boxes identified throughout the tagging process of X Marks the Spot. A map positions
the droning sounds in space in relation to the River Lagan, one of the main features defining
the city’s geographical layout. Each sound is summarised using nine of its main frequencies
and amplitudes. The main frequencies are laid out in a sequential order while the
amplitudes are presented through the different font widths – the thicker the width the
higher the amplitude.
The collaborative and systematic sound mapping of Belfast in X Marks the Spot is a
durational, organic and open-ended search process. Transposing fragments of this process
into a graphical score, invites participants to continually re-imagine Belfast as a dynamic and
sonic fabric.
More information about the overall Scoring the City project.