Janet Cardiff

The radio clip describing Cardiff's Sound Journeys was less interview and more spliced together sound information. It seemed that the radio voices and Cardiff were independently describing various parts of her work, with clips used as examples. When compared to the clip, however, the description was indeed accurate. The sound was interactive and Janet Cardiff was incontrol of where the sounds make the listener go. By using the three levels of sound, Cardiff was able to create an entire world through only the aural senses. She was able to fade in and out a level of sound while maintaining her footsteps or voice. This technique creates a forced sense of movement. It makes the listener question, "what is reality?" By using the binaural recording technique, where sounds are recorded with specific mic placement that allows the sound to seem like it surrounds the listener, Cardiff is able to make the sounds seem intensely real in a surreal way. The sounds feel so close, yet our brain knows they are not, which causes a disjunction to occur amungst the senses that perpetuates the questioning of reality. One aspect I especially found interesting both in the interview and the piece is the idea of the layers of history a place can have. By looking through the entire history of a spot, Cardiff is able to transport you through time. This is especially interesting because of her choice in medium. Sound is a recording of time passage, and, as the radio clip said, walking is also a passage of time. These things combine beautifully as Cardiff attempts to transport the listener beyond where he or she is physically going. Every aspect of her work points the listener to a surreally real journey through space, time, and the museum's surrounding streets.