Inputs

BLOG 3

Finding deaf or cochlear implant users who are musicians is rare. However, I got to meet Christine Sun Kim, a sound artist who explores sound through different media like performance, composition, art and sketches; and encourages the use of multimedia technology. This inspiring woman that surprises audiences with a new language of communication had an influence in the way I looked at our project. A realm of connecting different hearing audiences through installations and expositions. Engaging with multimedia is a way of showing all the different perspectives and communications to connect people and placing open perceptions.

Portraying something bigger than ourselves through Multimedia like art, film and sound, was the path we wanted to follow. This led us to decide to create a short film. The research directed us to films and clips like “Sound Of Metal” by Darius Marder.

A film that inspired me because of the combination of the camera lenses and movement with the auditive difference. With this I created a script of ideas on how we could create the short by engaging in the movement of the lens and the difference between silence, vibrations and cochlear implant simulation.

Nicholas Becker, the sound designer of the film, expressed how using different microphones and processing them in different ways have created the different perceptions of sound and texture. He actively engaged in meeting different C.O.D.A. users and trying to understand their individual way of hearing. Expressing different individual ways of hearing loss through an interpreter who is not actually deaf sounds impossible. But the way he directed the sound was uplifting and made me feel uneasy at the same time as it provoked the insecurities in me and those that must feel deaf people like my mother.

So far we had:

• Interview and sources from my mother

• Multimedia Project

• Short: use of different microphones within different situations and movement of sensations

• Other users experiences

• Cochlear Implant Simulation : Angel Kim

• Art and surrealism

For this, the next step was to find a cochlear implant user that would be interested in being the protagonist. Not only as an actor but as a guide to his or her perception and emotions. The difference is we wanted to see how a specific individual felt. I actually got really stressed by thinking that we had to research and ask for a lot of individuals to really understand. However, I was soon relieved when we found Julia through instagram. The idea of doing it only through the perception of two different people, my mother and Julia was broad and personal enough to reflect the diversity of hearing and interpretation of sounds.

The world through Julias and Alma's ears.