Rebuilding Hillbrow's space through different voices

Abstract

This research report examines the relationships between space and sound, and how we understand and make meaning from the space around us using our senses. It specifically explores how the space of Hillbrow is represented through sound in the piece, Audio Walk with Ra and Kagiso, and the implications thereof. This piece was created during the time of the Third Space project by the artist Malose Malahlela in 2013. This report’s findings were the result of a close study of Audio Walk with Ra and Kagiso using the terminology and ideas of acoustical studies as well as the postcolonial concepts of palimpsest and hybridity. In this report, I argue that the audio-walk, through disconnection and 're-embodiment' of sound in those who listen, creates ‘hybrid spaces' wherever heard. These ‘hybrid spaces' provide both a translation of the space and an experiential interruption into the listener's space, which provides new understandings of the space of Hillbrow. This report is relevant in that it examines an alternate way of representing and understanding a space and allows for an analysis of the ways in which re-writing over previous Apartheid and colonial spaces occurs. It is also a reminder for a more comprehensive use of our senses in understanding the space around us