The Space Below: HWDT acoustic recordings feature in an exciting new sound installation

Artists Emma Critchley and Lee Berwick are the creators of a new sound installation, The Space Below, which responds to the global issue of underwater acoustic pollution. Early in the project Emma visited HWDT and spent three days with us listening to acoustic recordings collected on our research expeditions. Now recordings from the west coast of Scotland, alongside recordings from scientists all over the world, have been brought together to form The Space Below.

In response to one of the biggest concerns of our times, the conservation of our oceans, The Space Below is a unique take on the pressing issue of underwater sound pollution, a problem that is little known but effects all marine life. Earlier this week Emma spoke to us about The Space Below and shared her experience of researching and creating the new installation.

Why did you decide to create an installation focused on underwater noise pollution and how did you first become aware of noise as a source of underwater pollution?

I first became aware of underwater noise years ago when I was diving at a marine conservation project in Indonesia. There was homemade bomb fishing happening which you could hear when diving. When you are underwater you are not sure where the sounds are coming from and your sense of scale and direction is completely disorientated. That experience really stuck with me as a visceral thing.

When I came up to see you at HWDT I was on a year’s residency with culture, climate change and future scenarios and that was very much when I got into the research and really wanted to pursue it as a project idea. Coming up to see HWDT for three days was absolutely amazing – I loved it. Having three days just listening to all the sounds. They are really hard to hear, even though I could turn them off, and that was a really interesting experience.

I love sound it is such a powerful medium to work in. What has always really interested me about working underwater is that it is this other space that we don’t think about in the everyday very much at all. It’s a space that completely shifts everything, the way that we relate to our body, takes us out of the everyday. And that’s been a thread through my practice from the beginning. Adding sound to that; we are such an ocular centric species and the fact that this is a world where sound is the primary sense and yet we are polluting that. There is this whole level of pollution that is going on in this space that is completely hidden; the sea still looks pristine on the surface. I am always interested in the invisible, or the unseen. And it such a huge problem and yet so few people know about it.

Why did you choose the Greenwich Foot Tunnel as the site for this installation?

Credit for that goes to my husband Angus who is a location manager! I looked at quite a few tunnels but then the Greenwich one is great because it is underwater. It is an amazing space. Lee has been wanting to work there for years. He is a sound artist who specialises in working in tunnels and really unusual spaces. What we are doing today is tuning the base to the space so we are working on a vibrational level. How much we will get away with in a public space I don’t know! It is not sound how we think about it, it’s a completely vibrational experience.

The fact that you are standing underneath the Thames and because it takes so long to walk through it. We’ve got nearly 40 speakers down there. It’s a whole experience. We are using it as a big instrument in a way. There is this journey people can go through whilst they are underwater. At the beginning we’ve got recordings of the Thames so you start the journey where you are (geographically). There is sound throughout the whole tunnel, running from 11am – 7pm every day.

Emma and Lee in the Greenwich Foot Tunnel (photo © Jessica Moyes)

You've included sounds from across the world, both natural and human-made - can you tell me a little bit more about the sounds you've chosen to include and why you selected this range?

I spent a long time listening to sounds. In one sense it is about opening up this incredible sonic world to people so they realise how rich and diverse it is. Some recordings we just had to have them in because they are hilarious. We have this Pogo fish that sounds like Zebedee from the Magic Roundabout! We were also interested in playing sounds together that are natural and human-made. In the northern stairwell we have sounds from the northern hemisphere and in the southern stairwell from the southern hemisphere. Then in the middle it is a bit more creative and playful.

What recordings have you used from the west coast?

The main sounds from HWDT are the Acoustic Deterrent Devices (ADD), they’ve always been definitely going in there; they are like star wars lasers, just hideous. And the snapping shrimp.

Where you surprised at any of the noises animals make?

The Pogo fish is my favourite – sounds like a spring. The fish sounds are amazing, the grunts. The regional accents of whales is just amazing. Weddell seals and bearded seals, I could listen to them for hours! And Walrus bells, there is just no way you could guess what creature that was.

What was your experience of listening to the human-made noises you encountered whilst creating the soundscape?

Listening to ADDs with HWDT was really early on in the project. I had no idea they existed before coming up to see you. Air guns sound like explosions. It is more about how they are used; in the sense of the distance they travel and that they could be on all the time. It becomes chronic rather than acute noise. I just can’t imagine being in that space. So it is a combination of what the sounds are and how they are used. How impossible it would be to escape them, or really hard anyway.

What reaction or experience do you expect the installation will give to those who visit it?

It is very experiential. We want people to enjoy at times the richness of that sonic world as well as drawing attention to how we are infiltrating it. Also playing with sound in the space, how sound travels in the space. People having a new experience of sound and how sound can behave and effect their behaviour. Both in a positive and a negative way; when you are immersed in these walrus bells and narwhal calls you’ll be like wow! Then an ADD or sonar comes in and you get a sense of how communication for example becomes difficult. Physically or visually the space won’t have changed very much but just through sound your experience, of perhaps a very familiar place, is completely changed.

What did you learn working on this installation?

This is something we can really do something about. When you turn sound off it does go away, unlike other types of pollution. In that sense it is a hopeful thing and really important to highlight that there is a positive side to it; if you turn the sound off it does go away and creatures will come back.

Your installation highlights the serious topic of noise pollution in our oceans. How do you feel installations such as this can contribute towards conservation efforts?

I’m hoping to engage people with an issue that they don’t know about in interesting and playful ways that raise questions, generate conversations. The issue of sound is an extremely visceral and experiential one. It is about them having an experience, talking about it and sharing thoughts and ideas about it. A different way to how we usually receive information. It is a really important part of the work for both Lee and I.

Find out more about The Space Below by visiting thespacebelow.org or if your in London visit the installation:

Location: Greenwich Foot Tunnel, London

Dates: 7th - 15th March, 2020 Opening Times: 11am-7pm

Anyone can get involved in HWDT’s acoustic monitoring by joining one of our research expeditions on board Silurian. Join us on board in summer 2020. Read more about our research projects here.