Sound Walk September 2019 winners

For the Sound Walk September Awards 2019, over 60 contributions were accepted, connected to over 80 events worldwide. Accepted pieces were sound walks, or walking pieces, created in 2019. A huge variety of formats, approaches and subjects from a wide range of creative disciplines, including arts, heritage and history, health and wellbeing, silence and architecture, social practices, journalism, performance, literature and theatre, ecology, and tourism. Recurring was that many works had a consideration for the planetary ecological and human crisis of today. 

Eventually, taking into account the online votes submitted by the public we came out on not one, but two winners, as well as four honorary mentions. 

Winners

The two winners were selected based on their explicit contemporary relevance, while seen as daring attempts to build bridges with our oral history, or our contemporary society and the future of soundwalking. The winners are Forest Talk Radio by David Merleau (Canada) and Entangled Formation by Anne Cecilie Caroline Brunborg Lie (Norway). 

Forest Talk Radio weaves together folktales and forest science to produce a radio comedy experience delivered right to your smartphone as you walk the trails of the Laurier Woods Conservation area in North Bay Ontario, Canada. Forest Talk Radio is a locative storytelling project, departing from the prominent place of forests in the many traditions of oral storytelling found around the globe. With site-specific data collected from the North Bay Mattawa Conservation Authority and inspiration from Fred Pinto, an internationally recognized forester and president of Friends of the Laurier Woods, David Merleau conjures an intimate walking radio experience, one that will leave you thinking that humans have more in common with trees than you ever thought possible. The work, in constant progress, is created and available on the platform CGeomap.

Entangled Formation is a sound walk that takes the movements of local and migratory bird species and the human residents and visitors of Prague, with a focus on where and how these lives entangle. Together with ornithologist Petr Vorisek from the Czech Ornithology Society, the artist is mapping home steady and migratory birds and their living patterns around the city, as well as how we affect birds’ lives, and vice versa, connected through site-specific sounds and stories, which the audience can listen in on, on the audio walk platform Locosonic

Honorary mentions

The honorary mentions are going to sound walks and walking pieces that stand out as original and inspiring for sound walking today by revitalizing existing formats and subjects.

Unseen, a Soundwalk set in Warsaw (Poland) by John Beauchamp for Adam Mickiewicz Institute / Culture.pl, available on Echoes, recalling hidden stories and unearthing lost sounds from places wiped off the map of Warsaw.

INSIDE MPHIL – St. Nikolai by Mathis Nitschke for the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra. A 3D interactive soundwalk through the Munich Orchestra in a meadow behind the Philharmonic Hall of Munich. 

Wander Weed by Stefaan van Biesen and Annemie Mestdagh. A performative walk in Beveren (Belgium) without any use of technology and a combination of conversations, a reading, a space specific practice, with environmental listening and introspective practices, based on the last letters of Charles Darwin about the world of plants.

Taman Tugu: Interference/Resistance by Yonatan Collier in Kuala Lumpur. This sound walk reclaims jungle in the centre of the city of Kuala Lumpur. The sonic world of the jungle will be at turns merged with, augmented, and disrupted by electronic sounds created from field recordings. Available on Echoes.

Also check out

Free
Walking Event SWS22
Sound Walk September 2022

1 - 30 Sep, 2022

When September rolls around, you can listen to stories, get closer to nature, travel to far away places, immerse yourself in different cultures, add your voice, record the ambience, learn how to make sound walks, and submit your own work, as well as participate in lively debates, and intimate café conversations. And, share your discoveries with experts from the world of sound walking.

Post
New
Marŝarto23 SWS23
Identifying winners is a collaborative effort

13 Feb, 2023

With the start of the season, and opening submissions for the SWS and Marŝarto Awards, we highlight existing and new members of the juries.

Free
Walking Event SWS21
Sound Walk September 2021

1 - 30 Sep, 2021

Listen to stories, get closer to nature, travel to far away places, immerse yourself in different cultures, add your voice, record the ambience, and learn how to make sound walks.

Free
Walking Event SWS20
Sound Walk September 2020

1 - 30 Sep, 2020

We were very excited to announce a varied programme of events taking place around the world during Sound Walk September 2020. Under the constraints of the pandemic, we saw outdoor experiences for individuals, as well as on-line talk shops, as well as interactive collaborative projects which everyone was able to contribute to during the month.

Free
Walking Event SWS23
Sound Walk September 2023

1 - 30 Sep, 2023

FREE

A month-long series of events celebrating sound walks, combined with a culmination in the Sound Walk September Awards. Submit your work!

Post SWS22
Announcing the winners of the SWS Awards 2022

16 Jan, 2023

We're happy and proud to announce the winner and runners-up of the Sound Walk September 2022 Awards.

Post
New
Marŝarto23
Introducing Marŝarto, the walking art award

6 Feb, 2023

We are happy and excited to announce the creation of the Marŝarto Awards, recognising walking art from all over the world.

Post SWS22
The SWS Awards 2022 shortlist

9 Nov, 2022

We're pleased to announce the outstanding pieces that make up the shortlist of the Sound Walk September Awards 2022.

Walking Event SWS19
Sound Walk September 2019

1 - 30 Sep, 2019

Dozens of events in many countries, covering all inhabited continents of the world, took place during September 2019.

Post
New
Marŝarto23 SWS23
Announcing prize money for winning our walking awards

20 Feb, 2023

We are excited to introduce a cash prize of up to 1000 euros for winners of our awards.

Curated news
New
Connecticut Man Has Been Walking Barefoot for Over 20 Years

19 Mar, 2023

Post SWS21
Announcing the winners of the Sound Walk September Awards 2021

17 Jan, 2022

Not only have we made it into 2022, we are also very pleased to announce the winners and honourable mentions of the Sound Walk September Awards 2021.