The concepts of sound, and unsound, are determined by physics and culture.

The fact that sound does travel, but is also a cautionary idiom that private conversation or secrets may be overheard in specific public spaces is a duality that is compelling by itself in the context of creating an expansive intermedia project. 

While sound has always played a role in my practice, it has never been as uniquely integrated as it is in Internet Songlines as a body of work. Ultimately this text is my sound travelling; but what is interpreted, perceived or understood is wonderfully and mostly, unknowable.

The core process involves recording my voice saying a single spoken word and digitally manipulating its waveform image to create two dimensional images and three dimensional relief sculptures; these sculptural forms then form the basis of further interpretations in other digital and analog materials.

The title is a nod to my friend and colleague Clive Holden’s moving image work “Internet Mountains”, and my awakening to the the Australian First peoples’ spiritual traditions as explored in Bruce Chatwin’s book “The Songlines”

As the project has progressed, the odd mountain-like shapes of my voice as sound images of single spoken words has posed questions about meaning, place, time and technologies. 

This has guided me back towards ancient practices, such as carving stone alongside the hand refined digital carvings of the reliefs captured in the video. The screen lends itself to absence, whilst the sculptures lend themselves to presence. Both speak to history.

— Jan Swinburne

Special thanks to our collaborators and funders on the Artist in Residence program.