BC COVID19 Soundwaves

An open collection of sounds from BC during the COVID19 pandemic

This project is led by two anthropologists who live in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Sue Frohlick teaches at The University of British Columbia, Okanagan, and Alexandrine Boudreault-Fournier at the University of Victoria. They initiated this BC sound collection to stimulate a conversation about how our sonic world is undergoing transformation by the COVID19 pandemic. Physical distancing means that we live more isolated, yes. Social interactions are distanciated. But these public health measures also imply a change in our modes of transportation, in frequency of movement outside our housing, in how we consume and spend our time. The pandemic might also create new anxieties, and at the same time stimulate new forms of creation, impacting how we relate with our environment. All of these changes generate novel and different sounds. They invite us to think about the value of sounds and if we can listen in new ways.

We invite contributors to record and share their own brief sound clips collected during the COVID19 pandemic in the province of British Columbia. This way, we hope to create a sound archive composed of original sound recordings coming from everywhere in the province in order to curate audible traces of this unique moment. 

We invite you to contribute to this project by uploading your sounds recorded in BC. We look forward to exploring the diversity of soundwaves taking place during the COVID19 pandemic.