Computer Village is a sound piece that explores the afterlife of technology and its sonic residues created by computer and electronic remains. The piece listens closely to the silent collapse and reanimation of machines that defined our digital age. By centering e-waste not just as environmental debris but as a sonic archive of global consumption. Computer Village borrows its title from one of Africa’s largest technology markets and an unofficial processing center for global electronic waste. It transforms discarded electronics into a ghostly chorus of industrial ruin.
Field recordings from e-waste dumpsite Olusosun in Lagos form the background of the composition capturing the sounds of burning plastics, shattered screens, wire stripping, fragmented chatter of pickers, workers, electronic vendor and soundscape from Computer village Ikeja. These are merged with processed electromagnetic recordings from malfunctioning or dead devices echoing the ghost frequencies and electromagnetic hums that still emanate from their bodies.
This piece engages with the sites soundscapes as an archive of consumption, decay, and repair foregrounding the sonic experiences of a space where global e-waste is repurposed and reimagined. It also draws attention to the environmental and sonic pollution that intertwines with human resilience and the informal economy sustaining this technological graveyard