Zoë Schnegg

What hidden stories flow through our streets? How is our city shaped? What is lost and what is still there to un-cover? How is the landscape imprinted onto our lives and where are we leaving our mark?

An exploration of the public realm--un-screened in IRL; Echoes of the past resonating in the present; Initiating conversations of place and belonging; An invitation to look beyond the curtain. Celebrating cities through sound and movement, connection and interaction.

Curiosity as our guide; attention our reward; stories our future.

A conversation between rings. Where do knocks fit within the urban soundscape?

The City of London is shaped by water. Trade and migration followed rivers, across the sea, building kinship, creating prosperity.

Roman invaders were held at bay by the Walbrook separating them from the local Celts until they put down roots, started to build bridges, made connections, created markets, invited exchanges.

Centuries later the Hansa League set up shop just at the Mouth of the Walbrook (Cannon Street) connecting the thriving Baltic with the medieval Guilds of London.

The Walbrook still flows across the Square Mile, encased and hidden under the vaults of the Bank of England silently witnessing the city and its inhabitants under layers of mud and sewage. Mushrooming new developments rising against the sky are making bold statements of power and presence at time oppressively overshadowing the city and its inhabitants. The water, its landscape feels incidental yet they still mark the streets shape the City and how we live in it.

Located just along the West bank of the Walbrook for almost a millennium, St Mary-Le-Bow has been immortalised by the famous nursery rhyme 'Oranges and Lemons'. Its bells rang out to true Cockneys for centuries, but the cacophony of the modern city has drowned out its sound. Today's newborns can no longer, even faintly, hear them ring.

'Rings About Town' acoustically links the modern cityscape to the church bells of yore. Strategically located along the run of the Walbrook 'Rings About Town' echoes the city's past by responding to passers-by's inquisitive knock, picking up their rhythm and passing it along the river's flow through the historic urban landscape: creating a soft soundscape, inviting conversation and discovery, a gentle nudge to listen, stand still and mark the present.

'Rings About Town' is an interactive project in the public realm, interlinking the senses (sight, touch, sound), weaving its way through our heritage using physical objects and human connection. Knock, knock who was there? Knock, knock I'm here!

The beginning of a conversation, reflective and curious.

What if the environment around us responded to our actions?

Boox City Monsters are a playful exploration of surreal ways the city itself could react to or even protest against us, its inhabitants. The project uses physical computing to examine how we might rediscover and increase awareness of our local neighbourhood through low tech experiments. Each Boox is installed at specific locations and includes context specific reactions and responses.

Regular cycle rides in London can include moments of frustration. The Bike Kaktus responds to drivers overtaking cyclists at close range. How could the unexpected and harmless reaction influence the drivers?