Out of the two gallery visits in the Intro to Sound Arts unit, LINKED was definitely my favourite of the two. Before visiting, I visited Graeme Miller’s website and loved the concept of creating a sort of time capsule of recorded sound, immortalising people’s narratives and experiences. Upon arriving at Leytonstone Library, I was lucky enough to have a one-on-one chat with Miller in which I gained an insight into his personal musical and artistic background. The rare privilege of being able to speak to the artist behind a work about their motivations always improves my personal understanding and enjoyment of a piece. I felt this to be especially true with this specific sound artwork, as Miller’s experience living in the local area was central to the themes and process behind LINKED. His anecdotes about his relationship with the individuals featured in the recordings were invaluable, and I don’t think I would have felt the same connection with the work if it weren’t for my conversation with Miller.
After taking an hour or so to experience the piece, we were invited to have a group conversation, sharing our thoughts and feelings about the experience. In my opinion, the most interesting conversation we had was about the importance of the presence (or lack) of listeners. Miller’s view on this was that the listeners were an integral part of the experience; on his website, Miller (2025) states that the work is ‘in perpetual dialogue with the walker/listener who animates the work with their attention’. His views in this quote and in person suggest that the work is inactive when not being listened to. Personally, though, I believe that the lack of a listener’s presence can be just as valuable to a work of this sort. In our discussion, we mentioned a transmitter near Leytonstone tube station that was inaudible due to the construction of a new radio tower nearby. I find this disruption to go hand in hand with the themes of LINKED; the endless desperation of people telling their stories repeatedly, even when disrupted by continued development, is powerful. Although, after talking to Miller, I know this wasn’t intended at first, it adds a completely new layer to the artwork and was my strongest takeaway from the visit.
In my future works, I would like to further explore the concept of unheard and/or disrupted sound that I experienced during this visit.
Reference list
Miller, G. (2025) LINKED. Available at: https://graememiller.org/project/linked/ (Accessed: 9 December 2025).