Journal articles on the topic 'Advanced trainee translators'

This paper explores the changes detected in the utilization of translation resources1 by trainee translators working with the Slovene–English language pair in Slovenia. To test the assumption that rapid advances in information and communication technologies have made a significant impact on translation practice, a study involving two generations of translation students in Ljubljana was designed to examine whether their practice of using translation aids has changed over a certain period of time. This population will soon have to compete with their professional counterparts; it is therefore crucial they are fully equipped not only with the necessary translation knowledge, but also that they are skilled in advanced translation aids, as this will cater for the demands of the modern translation market where an efficient use of translation resources appears to be vital for successful intercultural communication. The results of the study indicate some changes can be detected even within a short period of time.

This paper is based on the University Theatre experience at the Advanced School of Modern Languages for Interpreters and Translators (SSLMIT) of the University of Bologna (Forlì campus) over the last twenty years. A great number of trainee translators and interpreters has had the opportunity to explore the world of theatre in a foreign language, which can be referred to as TiLLiT (i.e. theatre in language and language in theatre) or stage-classroom. This activity has been carried out within a comprehensive educational context, enabling participants to acquire both general and specific competences, as suggested in the European Higher Education Area. Evidence of this can be found in the final dissertations that some students-actors wrote to complete their curriculum. Four dissertations in total will be considered to illustrate the effective action of theatre, which enables its main protagonists to establish a direct link between theoretical notions and experience.

AbstractThis study consists of a correlational and regression analysis of certain factors involved in the practice of translator training, as perceived by translator trainees. More precisely, our aim is to examine the relationships between translator trainees' strategic competence (as the dependent variable), and autonomy support, amotivation and critical thinking (as the independent variables) in the translation classroom. Building upon recent advances in educational and social psychology, we have relied on Self-determination theory (Deci & Ryan, 2011) as an interpretative frame of reference. After revising the concept of translators' strategic competence, the main contributions in the field of translators' motivation are also reviewed and the notions of autonomy support and critical thinking are approached from the perspective of both psychology and translatology. Our findings seem to point to the fact that autonomy support and critical thinking can play a facilitating role in the development of strategic competence in undergraduate translator students, who may also benefit from both when they encounter new challenges in real professional settings. Finally, the implications for translator training are discussed.

Abstract In 2007, the Commission of Academic Degrees of the State Council of China approved an education program-Master of Translation and Interpreting (henceforth MTI), and in 2014 there are already 206 higher learning institutions started running such a program, aiming at training postgraduate students to be professional translators with advanced translation competence. Part of this translation competence is the ability to use electronic tools and resources, which has not received adequate scholarly attention in the field of translation studies in China. The objective of this research is to construct an ideal learning environment for MTI students from the social constructivist perspective by exploring the possibility and benefit of bringing the students out of the traditional classroom teaching into the authentic environment wherein professional translators use electronic tools on a daily basis. This article addresses the following research questions: (1) What constitutes an ideal environment wherein its various components interact to facilitate the student’s learning? (2) In what way does such an environment assist the MTI students to learn to use electronic tools? (3) How can the gap between the student translator and the professional translator be bridged in terms of the skills to use electronic tools in a 2-year training program? In response to these questions, this article explores the interaction among the various components of the external environment of translator workstation. It proposes an ideal learning environment metaphorically referred to as “the ecosystem of translator workstation”, which aims to enable MTI students to learn to use electronic tools in an environment similar to their future workplace. Such a research has great implications for translator education in present-day China by revealing what is best taught or trained in the workplace rather than the traditional classroom setting.

We live in a world of rapid technological advances which constantly affect the work of professional translators. Suitable training is therefore required for future translators to be able to compete on the translation market. With the rise of translation technologies, new ideas have been put forward on how to make translators faster and more efficient. Among the technologies that future translators may not be adequately familiar with are speech recognition tools; these enable translators to dictate their sight translation and have it typed out, allowing more time to focus on the content. However, as with all digital tools, the quality of input is important; a question thus arises on the role pronunciation assumes in such work. The present study aimed to establish how much awareness there is amongst the trainee translators of the possibilities afforded by speech technologies and to explore their perceptions of the role played by pronunciation.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study about Information Literacy instruction addressed to the user community of translators and interpreters through the application of InfoLiTrans Test. This test is one of the outcomes of project InfoLiTrans, aimed at applying an overall framework for assessing the acquisition of the information competence in four big macro areas: information search, assessment of information, information treatment, and communication and dissemination of information. Design/methodology/approach – The test was used to analyse, explore, and improve the information competence of Translation and Interpreting trainees from 17 universities in Spain. Data were processed and analysed after collecting responses at two levels of difficulty: basic and advanced. A statistical descriptive analysis was performed to diagnose the learning level of each competence area. Findings – Overall levels of information management were found to be excellent, particularly in relation to disseminating and communicating information, and to assessing the information required for translation tasks. Such results show a profitable synergy between translators' core competences and their information competences. However, skills required to search for information and to make use of it with available technology could be improved, providing room for further training. Originality/value – Considering the diagnosis of information competences put forward by the research, this paper provides guidelines for further improvement of translators' instruction on information literacy, thus, encouraging the design of models, methods and tools that could be more effective for this learning community.

58 Background: American Society of Clinical Oncology guidelines support early integration of palliative care (PC) into standard oncology practice; however, little is known as to whether improved outcomes can be achieved by modifying health care delivery and training oncology providers. Methods: We report our five year experience of embedding a nurse practitioner (NP) in an oncology clinic (March 2014-March 2019) to develop a shared mental model (SMM) of early, concurrent advance care planning (ACP) and PC as well as the collaborative effort to further disseminate this SMM throughout the Division of Hematology-Oncology using communication training, quality measurement, audit and feedback, leadership support, and monthly collaborative meetings. We developed PC quality metrics (process measures and end of life utilization measures) using a validated advanced cancer denominator. We used these measures to evaluate the impact of the PC-NP program (2014-2019) and provide individualized metric packets to each oncologist in the context of an annual half-day interactive communication training sessions (1-hr didactic, 3-hr small group role-play) each spring and monthly implementation team meetings from 2017-2019. Results: Compared to patients with advanced cancer not seen by the PC-NP program, patients who are enrolled in the program have higher rates of goals of care note documentation (80% vs. 17%, p < 0.01), higher rates of Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) completion (19% vs. 5%, p < 0.01), higher referral rates to the psychosocial oncology program (51% vs. 25%, p < 0.01), and higher referral rates to hospice (60% vs. 33%, p < 0.01). Among decedents, there was less hospital use (12 vs. 18 days) and ICU use (1.5 vs. 2.6 days) in the last 6 months of life. Since spring 2017, 19/21 NP’s, 64/68 physicians, and 17/20 fellows have participated in communication training. Among all patients with advanced cancer, goals of care note documentation has improved from 3% in March 2014 to 21% in March 2019. Conclusions: Embedding a trained PC-NP in oncology clinics to deliver upstream PC to patients on active treatment can lead to opportunities for development and dissemination of a SMM that translates into better primary and specialist PC.

21 Background: Physician Order for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST, www.POLST.org ) is a process and tool that translates patients’ goals of care into medical orders in a highly visible, portable way. Trained providers meet with seriously ill patients (or the surrogates) and discuss the available treatment options in light of their current condition, and help clarify the patient’s preferences. The physician then documents those preferences on a standardized medical order form, which travels with the patient if he or she changes settings of care. The POLST form is 1. a physician order, 2. signed by the patient, 3. after consultation with the physician, 4. facilitated by a person trained in advance care planning, 5. directed toward people with serious, chronic illness such that death in the next year would not be a surprise, 6. addressing the decision at a moment of medical crisis to a. hospitalize with full therapeutic intervention, or b. hospitalize with limited therapeutic intervention (such as no CPR), or c. provide supportive, palliative care in the present setting (home or nursing facility), 1. addressing further decisions such as feeding tube, parenteral (IV) hydration, or antibiotics, 2. documented in a widely publicized, recognized and understood form with a distinct pink color, and 3. accepted by EMS responders, hospices, nursing facilities, and hospitals across the state. Methods: The SC Coalition for the Care of the Seriously Ill is comprised of clinical and administrative leaders representing key statewide organizational partners, healthcare entities, and individuals. The Coalition proposes a template order for statewide integration to be called POST. The target population is persons with serious illness for whom death in the next year would “not be a surprise.” Results: Presently, the Coalition is working with state government to undertake a three-county pilot study of POST. Challenges include creating a legal framework, IRB approval, and education of providers and the public. Conclusions: POST may facilitate patient-centered advanced cancer care. Implementation of the POST in SC will require collaboration by stakeholders. Collaboration will require responsiveness to constituents’ concerns in order to facilitate patient-centered care.

In this issue’s Lactation Newsmakers: Documenting our History, we are featuring Elizabeth Hormann, who has been a force in breastfeeding advocacy globally for over a half century of counselling, teaching, and writing to create a better experience for breastfeeding mothers. Elizabeth Hormann was born and raised in the United States. She has a bachelor’s degree from Boston College (1967) and a master’s degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education (1976). In 1972, she started training and lecturing at conferences, while raising her five breastfed children. Just after receiving her IBCLC in 1986, she changed continents moving to live and work in Germany. She was a role model, influencing the development of the IBCLC accreditation in Europe. Elizabeth Hormann was a pioneer in lecturing and sharing expertise during the 1980s, when there was a renewed interest in breastfeeding and a huge demand on breastfeeding education for health professionals. She helped to advance the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) in many countries, as a trainer and as an assessor. Over the years, she shared her expertise about relactation breastfeeding and infant feeding during emergencies. As the author and a translator of a number of breastfeeding books, her influence has been felt across Europe and Africa.

AbstractWe describe digital technology utilization among knowledge producers who have experienced the alternative training structures. Using data from a face-to-face survey of Filipino scientists, we measure email utilization by scientists in terms of five aspects of access and use, and examine how they vary across place of graduate education. Our questions are: (1) How can we characterize peripheral scientists in terms of their contextual, personal, professional, and educational attributes? (2) How can we characterize their utilization of digital technology? (3) Are there indications that core-based graduate training translates into yet another significant dimension in digital inequality? Our finding suggests that the Philippine scientific system largely reflects the perspective of core-trained male scientists. Filipino scientists are able to utilize digital technology—personal computers, email, and the World Wide Web—but with important qualifications. While scientists at the core have the luxury of architectural, digital, and personal privacy in hardware-software-user interaction, such is not the case for Filipino scientists, who in general have to share digital resources in public spaces within formal organizations. Finally, place of graduation emerges as a new form shaping digital utilization and inequality. The diffusion of digital technology into peripheral scientific systems has been uneven along this newly emerging dimension. Digital inequality construed as simple hardware-software access and use is diminishing, but inequality at the level of advanced hardware-software interaction skills is fast emerging as a new dimension that encapsulates postcolonial relations in science.

Three-dimensional (3D) printing is a process that translates a 3D virtual model into its physical 3D replica. In medicine, Neurosurgery, Orthopedics and Maxillo-facial surgery were the first specialties to successfully incorporate this technology in their clinical routine, as an aid to surgical interventions. The study aimed to provide a clear overview of the potential areas of applications of 3D printing (3DP) for management of renal diseases, based on a review of the literature. Method. We carried out a review of the literature according to PRISMA recommendations. We searched three databases (Medline, Scopus and Cochrane) with two specific queries: one using MeSH-terms and the second one based on free terms, all terms were related to nephrology and three-dimensional printing technology. Results. 3D-printed models were mostly employed for the management of renal tumors and lithiasis. They provided enhanced visualization of structures and the possibility to perform procedures rehearsals which seemed to improve surgical procedures. Models were also reported to positively impact patients’ understanding of their condition and the interventions. Trainees and experienced urologists also benefited from the supportive role of 3D-printed models and reported improved confidence and efficiency. Rare reports discussed their use for kidney transplantation, ureteropelvic junction obstruction syndrome treatment, nuclear medicine or cultural issues. Due to a meager data amount and heterogeneity of studies, no advanced statistical analysis was possible. Conclusion. 3D-printed models of renal anatomical structures are feasible and are valuable tools to support renal disease management, and for educational purposes.

The majority of the universities and private institutions have initiated the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine translation (MT) in teaching translation. Translators have been trained by a systematic teaching method with newly designed curriculum with the addition of computer-assisted technology. However, the learner’s face-to-face experience is relating them to advance self-learning of languages through AI machine, which lack the motivational mechanism. This review paper presents the recent advancement in the use of AI and MT in the teaching translations to translators. The aim of the study is to investigate the pedagogical implications of AI for teaching translation studies. The study concludes that there is lack of critical reflection of challenges and jeopardies of AI in translation teaching, there is a weak connection to academic instructive perceptions, and that there is a need for further exploration of principled and enlightening approaches in the application of AI in translation teaching in higher education.

Background:: People suffering from hearing and speaking disabilities have a few ways of communicating with other people. One of these is to communicate through the use of sign language. Objective:: Developing a system for sign language recognition becomes essential for deaf as well as a mute person. The recognition system acts as a translator between a disabled and an able person. This eliminates the hindrances in exchange of ideas. Most of the existing systems are very poorly designed with limited support for the needs of their day to day facilities. Methods:: The proposed system embedded with gesture recognition capability has been introduced here which extracts signs from a video sequence and displays them on screen. On the other hand, a speech to text as well as text to speech system is also introduced to further facilitate the grieved people. To get the best out of human computer relationship, the proposed solution consists of various cutting-edge technologies and Machine Learning based sign recognition models which have been trained by using Tensor Flow and Keras library. Result:: The proposed architecture works better than several gesture recognition techniques like background elimination and conversion to HSV because of sharply defined image provided to the model for classification. The results of testing indicate reliable recognition systems with high accuracy that includes most of the essential and necessary features for any deaf and dumb person in his/her day to day tasks. Conclusion:: It’s the need of current technological advances to develop reliable solutions which can be deployed to assist deaf and dumb people to adjust to normal life. Instead of focusing on a standalone technology, a plethora of them have been introduced in this proposed work. Proposed Sign Recognition System is based on feature extraction and classification. The trained model helps in identification of different gestures.

IntroductionThe National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) focuses on reducing barriers to effective translational research that rapidly translates science to clinical and community interventions to improve individual and community health. Community-Engaged Research (CEnR) plays a crucial role in this process by bridging gaps between research and practice. It effectively generates bi-directional knowledge and communication by engaging patients and communities throughout the translation research process. Skills development, however, is critical to enable investigators and communities to establish successful partnerships in research. While there are many independent CEnR education programs nationally, few curricula are mapped to identified domains and competencies.Assessment of current community engagement educational frameworks and competenciesWe located three comprehensive efforts to identify CEnR domains and competencies that we aligned to inform development of our curriculum, which we then mapped to these competencies. The first, undertaken by the NCATS Joint Workgroup on Researcher Training and Education and Community Capacity Building (JWG) was developed to assess training opportunities for academic researchers and community partners to increase their capacity to meaningfully engage collaborators in translational research. The JWG identified curricula, resources, tools, strategies, and models for innovative training programs and community engagement in all stages of research. It also conducted a gap analysis of deficiencies in available resources. Using Competency Mapping, they developed a framework for curriculum mapping that included eight domains, each with two to five competencies of knowledge, attitudes, and skills. The second aligned community-engaged research competencies with online training resources across the CTSA consortium, while the third was focused on Dissemination and Implementation training.Actionable recommendationsFurther informed by a conceptual model to advance health equity, we have adapted and integrated these components into a set of modules designed to educate and empower investigators, trainees, students, and community partners to engage in effective CEnR.DiscussionThis curriculum fills an important gap in our workforce development and helps to meet needs of our community partners. Following program evaluation and validation, we will offer the curriculum for use and further evaluation by other groups interested in using or adapting it for their own programming.

IntroductionIn this article, I discuss the potential of sound to construct fictional spaces and build relations between bodies using two performance installations as case studies. The first is Invisible Flock’s 105+dB, a site-specific sound work which transports crowd recordings of a soccer match to alternative geographical locations. The second is Atelier Bildraum’s Bildraum, an installation performance using live photography, architectural models, and ambient sound. By writing through these two works, I question how sound builds relations between bodies and across space as well as questioning the role of site within sound installation works. The potential for sound to create shared space and foster relationships between bodies, objects, and the surrounding environment is evident in recent contemporary art exhibitions. For MOMA’s Soundings: A Contemporary Score, curator Barbara London, sought to create a series of “tuned environments” rather than use headphones, emphasising the potential of sound works to envelop the gallery goer. Similarly, Sam Belinafante’s Listening, aimed to capture a sense of how sound can influence attention by choreographing the visitors’ experience towards the artworks. By using motorised technology to stagger each installation, gallery goers were led by their ears. Both London’s and Belinafante’s curatorial approaches highlight the current awareness and interest in aural space and its influence on bodies, an area I aim to contribute to with this article.Audio-based performance works consisting of narration or instructions received through headphones feature as a dominant trend within the field of theatre and performance studies. Well-known examples from the past decade include: Janet Cardiff’s The Missing Case Study B; Graeme Miller’s Linked; and Lavinia Greenlaw’s Audio Obscura. The use of sound in these works offers several possibilities: the layering of fiction onto site, the intensification, or contradiction of existing atmospheres and, in most cases, the direction of audience attention. Misha Myers uses the term ‘percipient’ to articulate this mode of engagement that relies on the active attendance of the participant to their surroundings. She states that it is the participant “whose active, embodied and sensorial engagement alters and determines [an artistic] process and its outcomes” (172-23). Indeed, audio-based works provide invaluable ways of considering how the body of the audience member might be engaged, raising important issues in relation to sound, embodiment and presence. Yet the question remains, outside of individual acoustic environments, how does sound build physical relations between bodies and across space? Within sound studies the World Soundscape Project, founded in the 1970s by R. Murray Schafer, documents the acoustic properties of cities, nature, technology and work. Collaborations between sound engineers and musicians indicated the musicality inherent in the world encouraging attunement to the acoustic characteristics of our environment. Gernot Böhme indicates the importance of personal and emotional impressions of space, experienced as atmosphere. Atmosphere, rather than being an accumulation of individual acoustic characteristics, is a total experience. In relation to sound, sensitivity to this mode of engagement is understood as a need to shift from hearing in “an instrumental sense—hearing something—into a way of taking part in the world” (221). Böhme highlights the importance of the less tangible, emotional consistency of our surrounding environment. Brandon Labelle further indicates the social potential of sound by foregrounding the emotional and psychological charges which support “event-architecture, participatory productions, and related performative aspects of space” (Acoustic Spatiality 2) these, Labelle claims enable sound to catalyse both the material world and our imaginations. Sound as felt experience and the emotional construction of space form the key focus here. Within architectural discourse, both Juhani Pallasmaa and Peter Zumthor point to atmospheric nuances and flows of energy which can cause events to furnish the more rigid physical constructs we exist between, influencing spatial quality. However, it is sensorial experience Jean-Paul Thibaud claims, including attention to light, sound, smell and texture that informs much of how we situate ourselves, contributing to the way we imaginatively construct the world we inhabit, even if only of temporary duration. To expand on this, Thibaud locates the sensorial appreciation of site between “the lived experience of people as well as the built environment of the place” (Three Dynamics 37) hinting at the presence of energetic flows. Such insights into how relations are built between bodies and objects inform the approach taken in this article, as I focus on sensorial modes of engagement to write through my own experience as listener-spectator. George Home-Cook uses the term listener-spectator to describe “an ongoing, intersensorial bodily engagement with the affordances of the theatrical environment” (147) and a mode of attending that privileges phenomenal engagement. Here, I occupy the position of the listener-spectator to attend to two installations, Invisible Flock’s 105+dB and Atelier Bildraum’s Bildraum. The first is a large-scale sound installation produced for Hull UK city of culture, 2017. The piece uses audio recordings from 16 shotgun microphones positioned at the periphery of Hull City’s soccer pitch during a match on 28 November 2016. The piece relocates the recordings in public space, replaying a twenty-minute edited version through 36 speakers. The second, Bildraum, is an installation performance consisting of photographer Charlotte Bouckaert, architect Steve Salembier with sound by Duncan Speakman. The piece, with a running time of 40-minutes uses architectural models, live photography, sound and lighting to explore narrative, memory, and space. In writing through these two case studies, I aim to emphasise sensorial engagement. To do so I recognise, as Salomé Voegelin does, the limits of critical discourse to account for relations built through sound. Voegelin indicates the rift critical discourse creates between what is described and its description. In her own writing, Voegelin attempts to counteract this by using the subjective “I” to foreground the experience of a sound work as a writer-listener. Similarly, here I foreground my position as a listener-spectator and aim to evidence the criticality within the work by writing through my experience of attending thereby bringing out mood, texture, atmosphere to foreground how relations are built across space and between bodies.105+dB Invisible Flock January 2017, I arrive in Hull for Invisible Flock’s 105+dB programmed as part of Made in Hull, a series of cultural activities happening across the city. The piece takes place in Zebedee’s Yard, a pedestrianised area located between Princes Dock Street and Whitefriargate in the grounds of the former Trinity House School. From several streets, I can already hear a crowd. Sound, porous in its very nature, flows through the city expanding beyond its immediate geography bringing the notion of a fictional event into being. I look in pub windows to see which teams are playing, yet the visual clues defy what my ears tell me. Listening, as Labelle suggests is relational, it brings us into proximity with nearby occurrences, bodies and objects. Sound and in turn listening, by both an intended and unsuspecting public, lures bodies into proximity aurally bound by the promise of an event. The use of sound, combined with the physical sensation implied by the surrounding architecture serves to construct us as a group of attendees to a soccer match. This is evident as I continue my approach, passing through an archway with cobbled stones underfoot. The narrow entrance rapidly fills up with bodies and objects; push chairs, wheelchairs, umbrellas, and thick winter coats bringing us into close physical contact with one another. Individuals are reduced to a sea of heads bobbing towards the bright stadium lights now visible in the distance. The title 105+dB, refers to the volume at which the sound of an individual voice is lost amongst a crowd, accordingly my experience of being at the site of the piece further echoes this theme. The physical structure of the archway combined with the volume of bodies contributes to what Pallasmaa describes as “atmospheric perception” (231), a mode of attending to experience that engages all the senses as well as time, memory and imagination. Sound here contributes to the atmosphere provoking a shift in my listening. The importance of the listener-spectator experience is underscored by the absence of architectural structures habitually found in stadiums. The piece is staged using the bare minimum: four metal scaffolding structures on each side of the Yard support stadium lights and a high-visibility clad figure patrols the periphery. These trappings serve to evoke an essence of the original site of the recordings, the rest is furnished by the audio track played through 36 speakers situated at intervals around the space as well as the movement of other bodies. As Böhme notes: “Space is genuinely experienced by being in it, through physical presence” (179) similarly, here, it is necessary to be in the space, aurally immersed in sound and in physical proximity to other bodies moving across the Yard. Image 1: The piece is staged using the bare minimum, the rest is furnished by the audio track and movement of bodies. Image courtesy of the artists.The absence of visual clues draws attention to the importance of presence and mood, as Böhme claims: “By feeling our own presence, we feel the space in which we are present” (179). Listening-spectators actively contribute to the event-architecture as physical sensations build and are tangibly felt amongst those present, influenced by the dramaturgical structure of the audio recording. Sounds of jeering, applause and the referees’ whistle combine with occasional chants such as “come on city, come on city” marking a shared rhythm. Specific moments, such as the sound of a leather ball hitting a foot creates a sense of expectation amongst the crowd, and disappointed “ohhs” make a near-miss audibly palpable. Yet, more important than a singular sound event is the sustained sensation of being in a situation, a distinction Pallasmaa makes, foregrounding the “ephemeral and dynamic experiential fields” (235) offered by music, an argument I wish to consider in relation to this sound installation.The detail of the recording makes it possible to imagine, and almost accurately chart, the movement of the ball around the pitch. A “yeah” erupts, making it acoustically evident that a goal is scored as the sound of elation erupts through the speakers. In turn, this sensation much like Thibaud’s concept of intercorporeality, spreads amongst the bodies of the listening-spectators who fist bump, smile, clap, jeer and jump about sharing and occupying Zebedee’s Yard with physical manifestations of triumph. Through sound comes an invitation to be both physically and emotionally in the space, indicating the potential to understand, as Pallasmaa suggests, how “spaces and true architectural experiences are verbs” (231). By physically engaging with the peaks and troughs of the game, a temporary community of sorts forms. After twenty minutes, the main lights dim creating an amber glow in the space, sound is reduced to shuffling noises as the stadium fills up, or empties out (it is impossible to tell). Accordingly, Zebedee’s Yard also begins to empty. It is unclear if I am listening to the sounds in the space around me, or those on the recording as they overlap. People turn to leave, or stand and shuffle evidencing an attitude of receptiveness towards their surrounding environment and underscoring what Thibaud describes as “tuned ambiance” where a resemblance emerges “between what is felt and what is produced” (Three Dynamics 44). The piece, by replaying the crowd sounds of a soccer match across the space of Zebedee’s Yard, stages atmospheric perception. In the absence of further architectural structures, it is the sound of the crowd in the stadium and in turn an attention to our hearing and physical presence that constitutes the event. Bildraum Atelier BildraumAugust 2016, I am in Edinburgh to see Bildraum. The German word “bildraum” roughly translates as image room, and specifically relates to the part of the camera where the image is constructed. Bouckaert takes high definition images live onstage that project immediately onto the screen at the back of the space. The audience see the architectural model, the taking of the photograph, the projected image and hear both pre-recorded ambient sounds by Speakman, and live music played by Salembier generating the sensation that they are inhabiting a bildraum. Here I explore how both sound and image projection can encourage the listener-spectator to construct multiple narratives of possible events and engage their spatial imagination. Image 2: The audience see the architectural model, the taking of the photograph, the projected image and hear both live and pre-recorded sounds. Image courtesy of the artists.In Bildraum, the combination of elements (photographic, acoustic, architectural) serve to create provocative scenes which (quite literally) build multiple spaces for potential narratives. As Bouckaert asserts, “when we speak with people after the performance, they all have a different story”. The piece always begins with a scale model of the actual space. It then evolves to show other spaces such as a ‘social’ scene located in a restaurant, a ‘relaxation’ scene featuring sun loungers, an oversize palm tree and a pool as well as a ‘domestic’ scene with a staircase to another room. The use of architectural models makes the spaces presented appear as homogenous, neutral containers yet layers of sound including footsteps, people chatting, doors opening and closing, objects dropping, and an eerie soundscape serve to expand and incite the construction of imaginative possibilities. In relation to spatial imagination, Pallasmaa discusses the novel and our ability, when reading, to build all the settings of the story, as though they already existed in pre-formed realities. These imagined scenes are not experienced in two dimensions, as pictures, but in three dimensions and include both atmosphere and a sense of spatiality (239). Here, the clean, slick lines of the rooms, devoid of colour and personal clutter become personalised, yet also troubled through the sounds and shadows which appear in the photographs, adding ambiance and serving to highlight the pluralisation of space. As the piece progresses, these neat lines suffer disruption giving insight into the relations between bodies and across space. As Martin Heidegger notes, space and our occupation of space are not mutually exclusive but intertwined. Pallasmaa further reminds us that when we enter a space, space enters us and the experience is a reciprocal exchange and fusion of both subject and object (232).One image shows a table with several chairs neatly arranged around the outside. The distance between the chairs and the table is sufficient to imagine the presence of several bodies. The first image, though visually devoid of any living presence is layered with chattering sounds suggesting the presence of bodies. In the following image, the chairs have shifted position and there is a light haze, I envisage familiar social scenes where conversations with friends last long into the night. In the next image, one chair appears on top of the table, another lies tilted on the floor with raucous noise to accompany the image. Despite the absence of bodies, the minimal audio-visual provocations activate my spatial imagination and serve to suggest a correlation between physical behaviour and ambiance in everyday settings. As discussed in the previous paragraph, this highlights how space is far from a disinterested, or separate container for physical relations, rather, it underscores how social energy, sound and mood can build a dynamic presence within the built environment, one that is not in isolation but indeed in dialogue with surrounding structures. In a further scene, the seemingly fixed, stable nature of the models undergoes a sudden influx of materials as a barrage of tiny polystyrene balls appears. The image, combined with the sound suggests a large-scale disaster, or freak weather incident. The ambiguity created by the combination of sound and image indicates a hidden mobility beneath what is seen. Sound here does not announce the presence of an object, or indicate the taking place of a specific event, instead it acts as an invitation, as Voegelin notes, “not to confirm and preserve actuality but to explore possibilities” (Sonic 13). The use of sound which accompanies the image helps to underscore an exchange between the material and immaterial elements occurring within everyday life, leaving a gap for the listener-spectator to build their own narrative whilst also indicating further on goings in the depth of the visual. Image 3: The minimal audio-visual provocations serve to activate my spatial imagination. Image courtesy of the artists.The piece advances at a slow pace as each model is adjusted while lighting and objects are arranged. The previous image lingers on the projector screen, animated by the sound track which uses simple but evocative chords. This lulls me into an attentive, almost meditative state as I tune into and construct my own memories prompted by the spaces shown. The pace and rhythm that this establishes in Summerhall’s Old Lab creates a productive imaginative space. Böhme argues that atmosphere is a combination of both subjective and objective perceptions of space (16). Here, stimulated by the shifting arrangements Bouckaert and Salembier propose, I create short-lived geographies charting my lived experience and memories across a plurality of possible environments. As listener-spectator I am individually implicated as the producer of a series of invisible maps. The invitation to engage with the process of the work over 40-minutes as the building and dismantling of models and objects takes place draws attention to the sensorial flows and what Voegelin denotes as a “semantic materiality” (Sonic 53), one that might penetrate our sensibility and accompany us beyond the immediate timeframe of the work itself. The timeframe and rhythm of the piece encourages me, as listener-spectator to focus on the ambient sound track, not just as sound, but to consider the material realities of the here and now, to attend to vibrational milieus which operate beyond the surface of the visible. In doing so, I become aware of constructed actualities and of sound as a medium to get me beyond what is merely presented. ConclusionThe dynamic experiential potential of sound installations discussed from the perspective of a listener-spectator indicate how emotion is a key composite of spatial construction. Beyond the closed acoustic environments of audio-based performance works, aural space, physical proximity, and the importance of ambiance are foregrounded. Such intangible, ephemeral experiences can benefit from a writing practice that attends to these aesthetic concerns. By writing through both case studies from the position of listener-spectator, my lived experience of each work, manifested through attention to sensorial experience, have indicated how relations are built between bodies and across space. In Invisible Flock´s 105+dB sound featured as a social material binding listener-spectators to each other and catalysing a fictional relation to space. Here, sound formed temporal communities bringing bodies into contact to share in constructing and further shaping the parameters of a fictional event.In Atelier Bildraum’s Bildraum the construction of architectural models combined with ambient and live sound indicated a depth of engagement to the visual, one not confined to how things might appear on the surface. The seemingly given, stable nature of familiar environments can be questioned hinting at the presence of further layers within the vibrational or atmospheric properties operating across space that might bring new or alternative realities to the forefront.In both, the correlation between the environment and emotional impressions of bodies that occupy it emerged as key in underscoring and engaging in a dialogue between ambiance and lived experience.ReferencesBildraum, Atelier. Bildraum. Old Lab, Summer Hall, Edinburgh. 18 Aug. 2016.Böhme, Gernot, and Jean-Paul Thibaud (eds.). The Aesthetics of Atmospheres. 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