Wayfaring Stranger
2022
FM transmitters, FM receivers, 3 channel sound
Wayfaring Stranger uses FM transmission to create a navigable soundscape where the audience may explore the terrain with FM receivers. As the audience moves through different zones of transmission, the sound dissolves into static before taking form again. One transmission plays various historical renditions of the American folk song “Wayfaring Stranger”. Another transmission contains synthesized and modulated starlings, pitched to the tune of “Wayfaring Stranger”. The last transmission is of modulated and synthesized starling calls over field recordings taken in New York City. Both bird species are considered highly invasive, despite both being brought to the states through New York for aesthetic reasons in the late 1800s and mid 1900s. The lyrics of the folk song may initially seem to reference the displaced and colonized species, but the audience too becomes the wayfaring stranger as they navigate the sonic terrain, guided by birdsong.
