RESEARCH NOTES

The physical and acoustic aspects of the landscape are the broadest fields of our exploration. During our stays in our respective countries, we sought to inscribe in ourselves the characteristics of these landscapes through elements such as the brightness of light, the crushing heat that slows everything down, the sand slipping from under our feet, the terrifying cracking of ice, the smell of burning eucalyptus, the starry vault, the polar night, the deep forests, the skyscrapers—modernity, concrete, glass, disjointedness.

We considered the climate: are temperatures extreme or mild? Is the weather very changeable, or fairly stable? Is the soundscape hushed, as in Norway, or raucous, as in Australia? Are there untouched natural spaces where we grew up, and are they a source of physical danger: precipices, raging seas, a killer sun, deadly cold... or, on the contrary, a place to rest and recharge our batteries by a lake, or in tranquil grasslands? And how does the body come into contact with physical materials: rocks, concrete, sand, pastures? When playing as a child, did we fall on bitumen or on soft grass? How does the sun rise in the morning?

At Wahroonga in Australia, for example, the morning awakening is frighteningly brutal: the wildlife wakes up at the same time, like an explosion. There are no gentle twilights either: in ten minutes, night follows day.

All these factors contribute to a physical universe that places different demands on our bodies. So, when we are confronted with other types of landscape, other relationships with the sky, sun, weather and materials, how do we react? How can we accept or reject these differences?