Budhaditya Chattopadhyay

Finding sounds in the underground construction sites of a metro rail line in Bangalore, India, and in old reel-to-reel tapes in the city's flea market, Budhaditya Chattopadhyay constructs a sonic meditation on the transformation of a city. He listens for those moments when the sounds that surround become those that transport to enhanced awareness. Metal being dropped in a tunnel has an eerie delay and decay; construction machinery vibrates, grinds, growls and fades; while Hammer and chisel hit concrete, indistinct voices call out, car horns beep, diesel engines thrum and rhythmic patterns coalesce and dissolve. The stuff of "sound life" is given a stage upon which they can act on the mind/quiet of the attentive listener. The construction sounds are now, but the reel-to-reel materials are the city's past reappearing and being re-integrated, akin to how a photographer can incorporate an old photo into a present-day scene. Eye Contact With The City is a soundscape composition that explores urban growth and history with a cinematic sensibility and an architectural feeling for space and duration.