Interested in exploring the depths of sounds and your relationship to it? Curious about soothing, jarring or extinct sounds? A new documentary (in live film format) by Oscar-nominated director Sam Green is coming to NYUAD on 9-10 March that you do not want to miss.
There’s a lot of sound-as-art around at the moment, what with A Slightly Curving Place at Alserkal Avenue’s Concrete and Lawrence Abu Hamdan’s largest institutional show to date work at Sharjah Art Foundation. We’re invited to consider our reactions to the sensory experience (and in the case of A Slightly Curving Place, the absence of anything audible to react to as well).
Sam Green’s 32 Sounds fits well in that company, and given the physical trajectory of a film – a defined length, the fact that it’s to concentrate on performance, the director’s hand controlling what you see and hear (and when) – it makes for an accessible starting point to think about sound.
32 Seconds is termed as “immersive live cinema” in the NYUAD press release, which is accurate enough: the film screens with on-stage narration by the director and original music performed live by JD Samson (from the feminist electropunk band Le Tigre in the noughties, then with their own band MEN, and latterly a producer, songwriter, remixer, DJ and writer).
It’s also been described more poetically by Moveable Feast’s Stephen Saito as the “mad sorcery of Green and his sound designer … arousing all the senses and making one conscious of the variety of sonic landscapes all around us”.
A tale told in 32 vignettes about our relationship to sound is visionary and expansive. “Sam Green creates beautifully shot film documentaries that are innovative and accessible, revealing his curiosity, thoughtfulness, quirky humor, and open heartedness,” said Bill Bragin, Executive Artistic Director at The Arts Center at NYUAD. “I often joke that my favourite pieces are the ones that require multiple hyphens to explain them – or as our mission statement says, ‘that defy definition’ – so I’m thrilled that his fundamentally hybrid, definition-defying piece will welcome audiences back into The Red Theater” (the show marks The Arts Center’s post-Covid reopening to the public).
Green delves deep into the primal triggers of sound and how certain sounds are only relatable to people over a certain age, such as the sound of busy signal, a dial-up modem, a rotary dial phone or a fax machine. He’s effectively cataloguing and preserving contemporary sounds for posterity, and reminding viewers of ephemeral sounds that are already lost to time. He also explores the deep mystery of sound and how it works with memory to bring us back to different times and spaces.
Headphones will be provided to everyone in the audience, allowing them to experience the incredible binaural sound mix. It adds a deeply immersive element to the live documentary form.
Sam green debuted 32 Sounds at the Sundance Film Festival this winter to rave reviews, and he says he’s excited to bring it here to us in Abu Dhabi. magpie caught up with Sam in the hours before he flew to Abu Dhabi, and we’d recommend that you catch up with him yourself at the Arts Center this week.
magpie: Why explore sound in this format?
Sam Green: That’s simple – because I had the time during Covid-19. A few years ago, I was working in Abu Dhabi with the Kronos Quartet filming their concerts [at the NYUAD Arts Center, screened there as the live cinema work A Thousand Thoughts in 2019]. The project was fun and really challenging because we were trying to get people to really listen. Most of the time we listen in a half-hearted kind of way. We don’t pay attention to the sounds around us. So, once the pandemic set in and I had more time, I started doing research on sound.
Sound is infinitely interesting — the more attention you pay to it, the richer it is. To me, sound is a way to think about the big ideas and themes in our lives, time and ephemerality and loss. Paying a little bit more attention to sounds around you opens up a world of pleasure and fascination.
I wanted to explore the very limits of sound and push the boundaries about how and what people really hear, so I decided to work with three-dimensional sound using high tech headphones, allowing viewers/listeners of the documentary to hear a range of sound hitherto unavailable to them, an experience that most people describe as ‘mind-blowing’.
magpie: Besides being a meditation on sound and emotion, what is 32 Sounds actually about? Is it a story?
SG: 32 Sounds is a loose narrative. There was a movie I’ve always loved called 32 Short Films about Ben Gould, and the movie is so good and smart because it’s just 32 vignettes that piece together a portrait of a complicated musician. Using this fragmented approach and telling his story in bits and pieces was so sophisticated and compelling.
Since there’s no right way to make a documentary about sound, I thought maybe I could use this approach to the concept – tell a story about sound in bits, fragments and pieces that resonate with people. I wanted people to find their own story within and think, ‘Oh, this is a movie about time or time-passing or the ephemerality of our existence’. There is no overt plot or main character; it’s more subtle than that.
magpie: So what do you expect people to feel when they see the movie?
SG: It’s hard to say: different sounds produce radically different experiences in people. But I hope that they leave the theatre with their ears wide open to the sounds around them.
The more attention you pay with your ears, the richer the world is. Sound roots us in the present because it exists only in the present; it’s ephemeral, it’s not like a painting that sits on your wall there for you to always look at. It’s time and air and then it’s gone. It always brings you back to the present. By reminding yourself that there are rich soundscapes all around you at all times that you may never experience in the same way ever again, you’re rooting yourself in the moment in a way that’s very healthy.
magpie: How did you choose the sounds?
SG: There were so many sounds that didn’t make the cut. Ultimately, I choose those that resonated with me [in more ways than one, clearly – Ed]. The challenge was to make all the chosen sounds add up to something. The foghorns of San Francisco are one sound. There’s a Lebanese-American physicist [a main character in the film] shaking a box of matches. There’s also a sound of a tape he made for himself when he was 11 years old to listen to when he became an adult. There’s the sound of swarms of cicadas who come out every 17 years. There’s the sound of the womb. It’s an eclectic mix of sounds that work together in an unexpected way.
magpie: It must have been hard to put it all together. What were some of the greatest challenges?
SG: One of the toughest things is just explaining it to people. Making a movie about a concept is hard, a creative challenge, but to me this one is worth it because it’s something we all experience. It’s universal and profound in the way it opens up into all the big forces of our lives.
Everybody has a relationship with sound. Everyone has sounds that trigger things so everyone can relate to sound so it’s a pleasure to create something that everyone can find something to relate to. Even though it’s been hard to make, I feel it’s one of the best films I’ve ever made, so I am very happy about that.
magpie: What was your favourite sound in the mix?
SG: Annea Lockwood’s river recordings [the picture at the top]. She made several recordings where she’d go from one end of the river to other and record along the way, to put together what she calls a ‘sound map’. Water changes in sound as it flows and when it encounters objects: pebbles, branches, rapids, changes in elevation. It’s an infinitely pleasurable sound, a rich, varied and musical experience. We need water. It’s a good thing for us. Perhaps we’re simply conditioned to respond to the sound of water in a positive way? For me, it’s a mediation.
magpie: And how about your least favourite?
SG: The busy signal, remember that one? An extinct sound and perhaps one that only those of over a certain age will remember. There’s something profoundly negative about it, like you tried to do something and can’t. It’s a sound associated with defeat. Luckily, that sounds been retired.
magpie: What sounds do you find the most poignant?
SG: In Japanese there’s a word for the sound of snow falling. English lacks a word for it. If you think about it, it’s a very interesting sound. It’s not actually the sound of snowflakes coming down, it’s the sound of the city at night as the snow falls. It’s quiet, and the noises are muffled around you. It’s much more than a sound; it’s a feeling, but we don’t have a word for it. It left me wondering, do things only exist when there’s a word for it? Language can be so inadequate, but sound is not.
magpie: And what’s next for Sam Green?
SG: I am working on a film about the oldest person in the world. I’ve been documenting these individuals around the world for the past seven years because obviously the titleholder is only that for so long and then replaced by the next. It’s been a fascinating exploration.
Words: Liz Totton
The Middle East premiere of 32 Sounds is at 8pm on 9 and 10 March in The Red Theater at the NYUAD Arts Center. Tickets are AED 100 (free to those under 18). .
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