Sounds of East Lawrence (SoEL) aims to document a small portion of the sounds, stories and histories of the neighborhood of East Lawrence in the City of Lawrence, Kansas. Through a multi-faceted input phase of field recordings, crowd-sourced audio and oral histories, Sounds of East Lawrence creates a snapshot of some of the aural happenings of the community and history of East Lawrence.
Sounds of East Lawrence Map
The SoEL mapping tool shares some of the histories, stories and sounds of East Lawrence, as gathered by the project team. These are presented in an easily-navigable online multimedia map which you can browse by street, or progress through individual posts. Map entries include abstract field recordings, musical performances and oral histories.
Final Presentation & Installation
Throughout Spring 2020, the project team will use primary sources to create a multimedia installation and live performance inspired by the Sounds and Voices of East Lawrence. Compositions will include found sounds, ambient recordings and visualizations drawn from multimedia recordings.
The project is part of the Rebuilding East Ninth community art project, supported by Art Place America, The Lawrence Arts Center and the City of Lawrence, Kansas.
Project Team
Nick Carswell
Nick Carswell is originally from Limerick, Ireland. He has studied music, maths and philosophy at University College Dublin, sound engineering in Temple Bar’s Sound Training Centre and an M.Phil in Music and Media Technologies in Trinity College Dublin.
Nick’s project include rock band Carswell & Hope, public art project Echoes Through a Green Space and Silly Goose Records music collective. He can be found performing in a variety of contexts as well as creating unique site-specific installations and community happenings.
Joel Bonner
Joel Bonner is multi-instrumentalist and audio engineer. He has lived in Lawrence for twenty years, and been active in its music scene in one way or another for the last ten.
His primary focuses are industrial rock, music for visual media, ambient music, found sound recording practices, and incorporating concepts of indeterminacy. But no music is outside of his interest, as he is just as likely to be listening to Lady Gaga as John Cage. The bulk of his recent work can be found under the artist name Serene Fiend.\