Streetscape is a device that extracts environmental sounds and city form, and immerses you in them so that you can imagine your surroundings. By tracing a map where the roads have been cut away, you can listen to sounds from that particular location using headphones. This idea emerged from wondering what we can see in the scenery of a city imagined through sound, and what kinds of memories will be brought to the surface.

Usually pen tablets are used to "draw" pictures on the computer, but in Streetscape they allow you to "walk" while listening to the sounds of the city, and to feel the close connection between the map and sounds. Because I tried to create an environment of listening to natural sounds using natural movement, participants interact by tracing the indentations in the map with a pen, rather than with a mouse or their finger. This allows viewers to become more absorbed in the scenery.
Streetscape has been created and exhibited in seven cities in Japan and abroad, including Kyoto, Nagoya, Hamamatsu, Sendai, Roppongi, and Paris. Each piece was recorded in the city where it was scheduled to be shown, and I made a new map of the city. People living there experienced this work, and I also showed pieces created in cities far away, in an effort to make the experience as real as possible. For the audience, there is a big impact in experiencing both usual and unusual environments, juxtaposed side by side.

Although I create this work in many different cities, my aim is not to capture sounds unique to each place. If I took this approach, I would end up interjecting my own subjectivity between the work and the audience, and the result would be increased distance. I take sound quality and presence into consideration as I layer the ordinary sounds of life, as opposed to the stereotyped cityscape. Undoubtedly, scenes emerge that you can only encounter at that place at that moment. By listening to the surroundings that I usually ignore, I feel the existence of the city, the people, and my own presence in the here and now. I hope to create work that gives a glimpse of the miraculous drama being played out in the background.

I'm planning to develop Streetscape into workshops, where people create “My Streetscape” or their own personal "Streetscape" by recording their favorite sound environment. Also, I am working on archiving sound from an original point of view, such as expressing the vertical change in sound through "skyscapes," or using the calendar as a motif for showing how sound changes during the course of the day for a particular place.

Iori Nakai (J), born 1980, became interested in digital music in 1996 and bought a synthesizer. In 1999 he entered the Institute of Advanced Media Art and Sciences (IAMAS), and came face to face with a place for artistic expression using electronic equipment. He did collaborative projects with many artists, and through working with others developed the ability of self-expression. In 2000 he debuted with Streetscape as his first work.