Foldable Sounds Collective
2020 - Present
442:
4 people to a track,
4 minutes of recording per person,
2 days to pass it on.
The collective formed the April 2020 lockdown, following the rise of Zoom calls and Facetime windows - once a less prevalent means of communication. Individually dealing with sound as an archival, performative and narrational tool, collectively they interrogate sound’s potential to sonically transport the imagination outside one’s four walls, drawing on a global need for freedom of movement.
The project was co-created by Isabelle Pead, Lucy Rose Cunningham and Daniela Maria Geraci, working across London, Leeds and Berlin respectively.
The Project was selected to be part of Shape Platform's 2021-22 cohort.
The Foldable Sounds project - on which the collective was based - draws on the simultaneously collaborative and independent nature of the child’s drawing game Exquisite Corpse. Placed into groups, participants share sounds, layering and editing recordings together to form a track. With 106 participants to date, the project now has 4 albums of intimate field recordings - the inside traces, spaces of many, folded into each other and shared in email chains of strangers - 4 people per track, maximum 4 minutes of recording, 2 days to pass it on. The collective process, the tracks themselves and a sense of collective listening felt resistant in a time when individualism was forced.
Our philosophy continues to be one of sharing conversations that urge a critical questioning of the lack of accessibility and diversity within the far reaching topic of sonic practice, as well as strengthening the community through the exchange of resources.
Foldable Sounds have a monthly show with Leeds' radio station, NARR, and a bi-monthly show with London station, Resonance Extra.
Listen to their past radio shows here