Stock {Yards}

Stock{Yards}

Duration: 11:48

Medium: Audio-visual (electroacoustic audio with accompanying visuals)

Technical Specifications: .wav 48kHz stereo audio, HD 1080p video

Year: 2020

Stock {Yards} is an audio-visual work that is designed to be experienced with headphones and in a dark listening environment. Both the audio and visual components have been derived from footage and recordings taken in the Stockyards neighbourhood of Toronto during the months of lockdown in 2020.

What began as a project that sought to capture some of the essence of my emotions felt during the 2020 COVID-19 lockdown, began to shift into a broader examination of the changes I see happening around me in my neighbourhood in Toronto. The lockdown forced me to rediscover my neighbourhood in ways I hadn’t before. Frequent walks throughout the spring and summer, led to discoveries of beautiful hidden parks and ravines, but also highlighted to me the changes in my neighbourhood, as increasing condominium construction sites pop up, and long-time businesses are slowly pushed out in favour of a new Starbucks or Walmart.

Thus the piece became as much as chronicle of my time in this neighbourhood, as it is a time slice of the sounds and images of my neighbourhood during a period of intense transition. Musically, the sound and visuals shift and meld from one to the next, sometimes connected, often disassociated. An auditory and visual recollection of the past, present, and a dream of the future, and yet neither at the same time.