I found LINKED, a piece of sound art by Graeme Miller, really interesting as the dimensions to it felt layered. In the first layer there were simply the physical yet invisible radio waves, communicating between transmitters and our headsets across the fabric of the urban environment. In the second there was the metaphysical dimension of time and memory: a matrix overlay of the past with our present. And finally there was the spatial dimension of existing as a body in an urban space.
I found it interesting how I would pick up little fragments of the past when walking around. Walking under an overpass, and catching a little snippet of someone from the past talking about her life, how the area had changed; and feeling like I was between dimensions – it felt like I was walking around a kind of thin place in the veils between realms.
The spatial dimension of existing as a listening walker is also valuable to think about, and how it relates to our perception of urban spaces, particularly London. We stuck out a bit with our vintage headphones and radio boxes, and although I drew some glances when I was standing by a lamppost for a while or trying to listen to a tree, I also just felt like I blended into the life of a city.
I think also it wouldn’t be the same if it was a digital listening walk. The radios created the fragments of signal and interference noises that you were able to sort of compose yourself based on your location. They create a “secret, ghostlike layer of the city”, activated by the listener with their attention and deep listening.
Graeme mentioned the idea that it exists whether the listener is there or not. It is a kind of unseen fabric of the city ~ which feels mysterious and through the artist can be tuned into as a way to access this hidden realm. I felt privileged to have been invited into this universe by Graeme, which he has overseen for over 20 years.
I like the idea that the radio boxes were time travel devices, and that those of us on the walk used them to time travel. It felt like that. Like although what we were seeing was East London in 2025, we had time travelled with our ears back to 2003.
Our time travelling bodies existed in a dream state in the city walking through a space between the veils wondering where else we might exist and does where we are really exist tuning into a single frequency signal hello lo lo out there can anyone hear me reaching through the veils through time reaching and trying to pull back into our reality listening to ghosts and spirits speak we are spirit bodies in spirit days this doesn’t matter as much as you think it does but at the same time it matters so much your life depends on it we are here on this physical plane but also existing in so many more at the same time please don’t think that this is all there is there is still time to read our poetry on picket lines as our voices crack from exhaustion to love each other so much we can’t say the words anymore to have sex with each other to stand exactly where we are and believe that we have every right to be there because we do
References:
Miller, G. LINKED | Graeme Miller. [online] Available at: https://graememiller.org/project/linked/. (Accessed: 15 November 2025)