“In Search of the Wilderness” is not just a composition; it’s a sonic journey, a song using the voice of the contemporary environment woven together collaboratively from diverse cultural perspectives. To listen is to redefine the relationship with the environment, emerging with a heightened appreciation for the subtle and sublime symphony of the wilderness in a world where no place remains untouched by human action.

This composition is the outcome of field recordings made collaboratively in the context of a workshop at the Miro Centre in Gwangju, Republic of Korea. On numerous sound walks through the city, we searched for sounds that would help us re-imagine contemporary encounters with wilderness by searching across scale and landscape for new material and landscapes of sound, seeking inspiration from the wild and untamed elements that define the concept of wilderness. The evolving discussion allowed us to zero in on what wilderness means in a contemporary context.

Drawing on the diverse perspectives and experiences of the participants, the group wove together a tapestry of sounds that mirrors the complexity and richness of a post-human peri/urban ecosystem. We hear the sound of creatures and the elements set against the sound of traffic and battling shopfront loudspeakers, street sellers and flags whipped by the wind.