Art / Duncan Speakman
A new print edition of Duncan Speakman’s ‘It Must Have Been Dark By Then’ released
Duncan Speakman is a multi-award-winning composer and sound artist based at Watershed’s Pervasive Media Studio.
Amongst his academic appointments, he has led the MA Immersive Storytelling at Royal Holloway London and the MA Virtual and Extended Realities at UWE Bristol, and is now researching the role of sound in future studies at the University of Bristol.
Speakman is best known for creating narrative sound-led immersive installations that are designed to be heard in “uncontrolled public and private space”, and as a result, are unique to each listener’s location and circumstances.
is needed now More than ever
His work has been enjoyed all over the world; from loudspeaker symphonies in New Zealand to sound installations in Porto and Guangzhou, and audio walks in Saitama.
It Must Have Been Dark By Then in the Sahara Desert, Tunisia – photo: Duncan Speakman
Originally released in 2017, his book and audio experience It Must Have Been Dark By Then has been reimagined for 2024, with a new print edition and a remixed and remastered soundtrack accessible through an updated smartphone app.
The installation was created in collaboration with Belgian dramatist Tineke De Meyer, with a soundtrack made with Sarah Anderson and Sean McGhee, and software design from Andy Wood. It was the first commission to be released by the research project Ambient Literature.
Lasting for about an hour, the installation is highly personalised, building a unique map as the reader/listener moves, unaccompanied, through their own local environment.
The book is designed to be read in combination with the audio experience – photo: Duncan Speakman
The material is described as “somewhere between a travel journal and a poetic reflection on connection, progress and memory”, and was initially inspired by Speakman’s travels on three continents, taking in areas undergoing rapid change as a result of human or environmental impacts.
“I’m thrilled to share a new print edition of It Must Have Been Dark By Then,” says Speakman. “The original intentions in making the work – to explore connections between local and remote environments, find empathy with distant strangers, and create spatial memories – feel like they might be even more relevant today.
“I hope that, for new audiences taking this walk, the scales of time and space that so often make it hard to understand climate change become more tangible.”
The new print edition of Duncan Speakman: It Must Have Been Dark By Then is available now from www.duncanspeakman.net, where you can also link to more information about the original project.
Main photo: Oddbjørn Erland Aarstad
Read next:
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
