Sonic Commons is a community based participatory research project at East Street Market in London. Working closely with a long term fruit stall vendor, we used ethnographic fieldwork, semi structured interviews, participant observation, and sound recording to understand the market through his lived experience.

Through our conversations, we learned that changes such as reduced free parking and the growth of online grocery delivery had contributed to declining footfall. Yet the market still held strong social connections, which the vendor described as “like a big family”. This contrast inspired us to draw attention back to the market and the community value that may otherwise be lost.

The stories, conversations, and everyday sounds collected during the research were translated into an immersive multichannel sound installation. The installation brought fragments of East Street Market into the exhibition space through layered voices, market sounds, and spatial audio, allowing visitors to experience its atmosphere and community life.

Visitors described the installation as lively and immersive, with some saying that entering the exhibition felt like stepping into East Street Market. Several also expressed an interest in visiting the market themselves after experiencing the work.