Time without Depth

Research Background Time Without Depth is a composition investigating the psychological effects of the COVID-19 pandemic by a combination of electronic instrumentation, Antarctic field recordings and a specially written text spoken in French. The work in part draws on Field Theory in which patterns of behaviour are used to explore the relationship between an individual and the environment – in this instance one that resembles an isolated research station. It also draws on some of the tropes of the Nouveau Roman by focusing on details, objects and spaces to express a depersonalised experience of the pandemic. Key references include Alain Robbe-Grillet and Margeritte Duras for their rejection of chronology, plot and character. Research Contribution Time Without Depth was commissioned by Belgian sound review Le Choses des Grains who publish a tri-annual online journal for French speaking audiences. Time Without Depth was commissioned for a special edition they produced titled Archives of the Present – Memory of the Future as a way of documenting through sound the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on communities across the world. The edition included commissioned works as well as community submissions to capture a wide variety of responses by specialists and non-specialists in sound. Research Significance Le Choses des Grains is a new French-language radio medium offering several hours of originally produced programs articulated around a subject or a theme. The sound review produces three thematic editions each year available on the internet as well as broadcast through a network of community radio stations in Belgium, France and Switzerland. The web version of the review can be listened to continuously like a radio stream, or by selecting topics. It offers different forms including documentaries, soap operas, fiction, long interviews, journalism, testimonies, poetry, and soundscapes. Partners include The Université libre de Bruxelles, Radio Saint Ferréol, and L'université de Lausanne.