pandemic 

In the midst of a global pandemic, countries and cities have become literal ghost towns. Once flustered with sounds from human activities, this has now been overtaken by the subtle industrial, mechanical, and natural environment sounds. This project began on Friday, March 27, 2020, during Lockdown 1, after two years of different lockdowns and exit strategies, Northern Ireland finally lifted all pandemic restrictions on February 15, 2022. These recordings reflect the two years of changes due to Covid-19 in our urban spaces in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Re-capturing the same first 10 locations on the same day from the first lockdown.

The project maintains the same recording constrictions of using my one daily activity of walking around the city of Belfast and quickly recording various local or touristic points of interest with aid of the VisitBelfast’s visitor map. Each of the soundscapes lasts two minutes because of the strict lockdown measurements set by the government, only allowing us to be outside for limited periods of time for essential grocery shopping, a daily activity, work, or health-related. The repeated recordings at various times during the pandemic generated many soundscapes for preservation and documentation. These recordings aid in comparing and reflecting the changes in these areas with an attempt to record in similar positions and times across the two years. 

https://georgiosvaroutsos.com/covid-19_belfast-city-lifted-restrictions/