As we shifted to exploring the internal virtual world of our desktop, it became clear to me that my personal computer space is one of the best forms of communication between myself and others. Communication and quality time, whether in person or over a digital screen, is how we form relationships and as we near the end of our study abroad semester in Singapore, relationships have been on my mind often. Relationships with people back home that have been stunted by distance and relationships that have formed here with people I will be leaving in a few short weeks — even relationships that will grow with transitions that are beginning to happen as I move back to the States but to a new state across the country. All of this is explored through layered video calls and conversations in my Interior Landscape project.
My video-soundscape (a digital landscape of composed video and audio footage) is a realistic narration of my life through chats with friends and family, in particular, my best friends from high school and college and my mother and sister. Selected video snippets are chosen for their audio counterparts and the messages they relayed as well as how they connected and overlapped with conversation content. Repetition of sonic elements such as digital notifications, my distorted voice, and background typing noises create additional texture to the heavily layered video. The most prominent sounds are human voices which I chose not to distort because of the importance of the words. Throughout our study of found sounds this semester and how they can be musical, I think our focus on the human voice in the second half of the semester was most intriguing to me.
The symmetry of the beginning and ending of the video in terms of desktop imagery and sound elements create stability and emphasise how digital communication and relationships cannot exist on a computer without human interaction. My Spotify background music relates to my daily life and the correlation between mood of music and the mood of my day. Ultimately, the video is a composed digital landscape highlighting the humanity that can be found through digital technology as well as my personal sentiments during this time of the semester.