A Frontier in Depth
2025 · 6.2-channel sound installation · Caerleon Roman Amphitheatre, Wales
A Frontier in Depth is an expanded soundscape developed from Templum Terrarium (re-adapting the spectacle in imperial debris). Archaeology has often been associated with the notion of ‘muteness’: the idea that, without expert interpretation, objects and their contexts remain ‘silent’. Rooted in colonial modes of producing and authorising knowledge, this notion of silence is placed in tension with the soundscape, which speculates without settling on a single moment or interpretation, continually rupturing, shifting and turning.
The composition blends field recordings with studio instrumentation processed through reel-to-reel tape loops, alongside contemporary technological adaptations of instruments associated with the ancient Roman world, including panpipes and organ. Forging a sonic connection between the Roman imperial presence in Britain and its material remains within a contemporary post-colonial society, Templum Terrarium resists the impulse to tell a new story or construct a linear historical narrative. Instead, it positions the listener within the ruins, re-adapting the spectacle of their past while opening them to contemporary interpretation.
Tuned to the space and mixed live for a 6.2 multichannel sound installation powered by photovoltaic solar panels, the 40-minute composition played on the hour, every hour. Developed in response to the landscape, site and its archaeoacoustic qualities, the work considers how sound might bring past and present into relation, while reimagining the forms of spectacle embedded within the ancient site. The work extends beyond the installation through a commissioned spoken-word poetic response by poet and activist-scholar Dr Nat Raha. A pressed 12” vinyl further expands the work, featuring an accompanying essay by Dr Philippa Lovatt, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of St Andrews, ‘Oscillations across Time and Space: Archaeoacoustics and the Sonic Imagination of Hannan Jones’s A Frontier in Depth (2025)’.
Mixed live by Lottie Poulet, field-recordings by Hannan Jones across (2024- 2025) with instrumental recordings composed on reel to reel at Green Door Studio, Glasgow, with Ronan Fay. Vinyl design by Rose Nordin. Printed with MARS Studio and pressed at Sesbass Records.
Commissioned by Artes Mundi and the National Roman Legion Museum, with support from the Arts Council of Wales, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales and Cadw, as part of Perspective(s), with additional support from the Welsh Government.
The composition blends field recordings with studio instrumentation processed through reel-to-reel tape loops, alongside contemporary technological adaptations of instruments associated with the ancient Roman world, including panpipes and organ. Forging a sonic connection between the Roman imperial presence in Britain and its material remains within a contemporary post-colonial society, Templum Terrarium resists the impulse to tell a new story or construct a linear historical narrative. Instead, it positions the listener within the ruins, re-adapting the spectacle of their past while opening them to contemporary interpretation.
Tuned to the space and mixed live for a 6.2 multichannel sound installation powered by photovoltaic solar panels, the 40-minute composition played on the hour, every hour. Developed in response to the landscape, site and its archaeoacoustic qualities, the work considers how sound might bring past and present into relation, while reimagining the forms of spectacle embedded within the ancient site. The work extends beyond the installation through a commissioned spoken-word poetic response by poet and activist-scholar Dr Nat Raha. A pressed 12” vinyl further expands the work, featuring an accompanying essay by Dr Philippa Lovatt, Senior Lecturer in Film Studies at the University of St Andrews, ‘Oscillations across Time and Space: Archaeoacoustics and the Sonic Imagination of Hannan Jones’s A Frontier in Depth (2025)’.
Mixed live by Lottie Poulet, field-recordings by Hannan Jones across (2024- 2025) with instrumental recordings composed on reel to reel at Green Door Studio, Glasgow, with Ronan Fay. Vinyl design by Rose Nordin. Printed with MARS Studio and pressed at Sesbass Records.
Commissioned by Artes Mundi and the National Roman Legion Museum, with support from the Arts Council of Wales, Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales and Cadw, as part of Perspective(s), with additional support from the Welsh Government.
A Frontier in Depth, edition of 300, 12”