A River Speaks: a podcast by Emma Hamill, Ori Alon, Simren Rai, and Emma Bey
What role does sound play in Confluence?
To close one's eyes and fully immerse into an act of listening is one of the most powerful ways of learning. Humans have engaged with various sounds across all cultures and time and in our curious nature, we have made sense of these sounds through the creation of stories. Whether our attention is captured by the sensuous embrace of an elders voice; the enchanting spell of non-human noise; or the cacophony of modern sound pollution, what we hear often translates into what we feel.
Through the curation of bird sounds, landscape sounds, cultural music sounds, oral histories, and modern anthropogenic sound pollution our museum display (an eventual podcast) will pull the viewer into the incantation of the Columbia river’s complex and evolving story. Our archive sound items stretch across time and space encompassing the past, present, and future of Celilo Falls, the Sandy River Delta, and Cape Disappointment.
Object 1:
View from inside bird blind, Confluence-2018-021-086-003
In a video shot within the bird blind, several sounds can be heard: distant human voices, distant flute music, the rumbling of an airplane flying over, a car locking beep, and people talking within the blind. Bird calls are distant and overpowered by the anthropogenic sounds of human voices, airplanes, cars, and music. This contrast highlights how this space has changed not only with the animals, but also in the soundscape.
Object 2:
“Sandy River Audio Tour” Confluence podcast episode, 1’14’’-2’36’’
An oral account of two moments which frame the Confluence bird blind. These two “moments of blindness” are Lewis and Clark’s arrival to the Sandy River Delta where they note “the birds so loud they were horrid” to the moment when Maya Lin decided she wanted to create a bird blind to watch the birds migrating.
Object 3:
“A Conversation With Maya Lin” video interview with the artist, 6’30”-7’30”
In this video, Maya Lin discusses the utter stillness and silence of the Columbia River at the Celilo Falls sight. Celilo, meaning echo of falling water, was once a roaring waterfall, Lin’s work was going to attempt to highlight that loss. Although no longer in production, the installation at this site would require lots of construction, and big machinery clearing some native plants. The sounds heard in this video of other location installations give the audience an idea of the irony at play between the silence of the river and the sound of the art.
Object 4:
Video of Cape Disappointment and interviews with architect, park manager, Maya Lin (Confluence 2018-021-129)
Waves 9:40-9:45, Bay 34:55-35:00, Boat 43:59-44:50
These are three video clips, all filmed at Cape Disappointment. The first is a clip of the Pacific Ocean waves crashing against the dramatic basalt cliffs - this sound is a dominant backdrop for this site. The second clip is of evening at Baker Bay which sits about eight miles inland and unlike the coastline, the water is perfectly calm - the birds and crickets are the main sound in this landscape. The final clip is of a motor boat on the same bay which transforms this area from tranquil into a commodified, utilitarian landscape. The loss of tranquility has a direct link to the colonialists that first brought their domineering ideologies to the Pacific Coast, and this loss can also be seen as melancholy.
Object 5:
Confluence Podcast “Story Gathering - Josiah Pinkham”, 2’36’’ - 9’42’’
Josiah relives a memory when an elder tells him he will never be able to witness the power of Celilo. This segment shows a very real contrast between generational memories while also showing that the transformation of Celilo is a trauma that is intergenerational. Mamatsmoko spent much time at Celilo to fish but he never tied himself up. Usually when people fell in the water they died, but Mamatsmoko would fall into the falls and always survive bringing with him directions from a spirit voice to share with his people. This story shows that more than fish; more than water is lost. Spiritual connection was also lost.