Welcome to my site, I am David Crossan and I live in the greater Glasgow area, I am currently studying my masters in media practices at University of west-central Scotland. I enjoy writing poetry and creating soundscapes in my spare time, the topics of which are usually based on my life experiences. I hope you enjoy the media I have posted on my website, feel free to comment.
I would like to thank everybody for turning up to my exhibition – sound is my guide: the virtualization of life and the machine. at the old hairdressers, it was a massive success, the interaction and feedback I received from the viewing public was mostly positive with a helpful amount of constructive criticism. I have learned a lot from this and will use the lessons I have learned to improve future exhibitions.
A big thank you to friends and family for all your support.
E-mail: DavidCrossan@soundismyguide.blog
The one thing that gets me going is sound. After losing my eyesight at the age of 37, I learned to type using a screen reader on my laptop, later working with a sound editing program, incorporating, Dictaphones, actively recording everything, drawing from my experiences of life. Whether it’s getting an idea from a radio program or hearing the birdsong of the morning, my recorder is always by my side; on the bed side table or in my pocket and with every step of the day, that’s when the catalogue of my thoughts and the recordings of the different nuances of sound, inform my poetry and begin to integrate with the sound recordings of the environment which creates an enveloping and immersive bubble of the subject matter. The 1st of my soundscapes/Short Films, ‘Whitewall’ is very atmospheric and abstract, all the 3 poems are performed by a young actor Martin Haddow.
Exploring the interaction of visually impaired individuals such of myself with technology, through the medium of soundscapes installations, like a painter with his brush strokes working with colour, I create sensory scenes with words, purposeful pauses and sound. My soundscapes, exploring the interaction with the environment as well as technology, focusing on virtual assistance of the likes of Alexa, the Google assistant, and Apple’s Siri. Another of my pieces shows my interaction with Alexa and some of the tasks that she can perform, called ‘Electric Mind’ while the other works shows how Apples assistant Siri works with various iPhone apps that aid the visual impaired. ‘Silky and Smooth’ focuses on my love of my Mobile phone and how it helps me in almost everything, ‘The Walk’ is a poem about me and my phone going for a walk using two apps that work together (Google maps and a Microsoft app named ‘Soundscape’).
All this is an extension of sound installations which focused on the turmoil of turning blind, this exhibition is to highlight how technology can assist visually impaired individuals to integrate into society.
Visit visibility Scotland here: https://www.visibility.org.uk
DC living lab: https://dclivinglab.info/
Sound Is My Guide 