Elephants in the Dark

Elephants in the Dark is an experiment to see if our eyes can fool our ears, and vice versa. The piece plays back audio and video recordings of seven locations in random combinations: a kettle, the Mancunian Way motorway, the weir at Etherow Park, Formby beach, radio static, hoovering, and a computer lab at Salford University.

Each session creates a unique 17-minute experience from 49 possible audio-video combinations (7×7). Refreshing generates new random pairings, inviting viewers to notice how visual context shapes what we hear.

Concept

The title references John Godfrey Saxe’s poem about blind men examining an elephant - each perceiving something different based on what part they touch. Similarly, this piece asks: when we see a beach but hear a kettle, what do we actually perceive?

The work emerged from my PhD research into the sociology of listening, exploring how environmental context shapes auditory experience. By deliberately mismatching familiar sounds and visuals, the piece makes visible (or audible) our usually unconscious process of integrating sensory information.

Technical Details

• Video: JVC DR-760 camera
• Audio: Tascam HD-P2 recorder with Pearl M&S stereo microphone
• Editing: Sony Vegas (video), Reaper (audio)
• Processing: sox and avconv command-line tools

The audio was prioritised over video quality - reversing typical amateur production standards - because the piece is fundamentally about listening.

The Seven Locations

1. Formby Beach - waves and wind on the Lancashire coast
2. Computer Lab - the hum of machines at Salford University
3. Hoovering - domestic vacuum cleaner sounds
4. Kettle - water boiling
5. Mancunian Way - traffic on Manchester’s urban motorway
6. Radio - detuned static between stations
7. Etherow Weir - water flowing at the park in Stockport