Page - 60 - in Mobile Culture Studies - The Journal, Volume 3/2017

60 Mobile Culture Studies. The Journal 3 2o17 Agata Stanisz | Tractor unit acoustemology decorative grille, chrome elements, pennants or iconographic symbols. They also do not display the names of the drivers. They are simply cars of a certain make having a certain reputation concerning the amount of space provided, ergonomics, sustainability and of course frequency of failure. It is also difficult to find analogies between the culture of American and European tractor unit drivers. In Europe, this occupation is not so well-reputed and socially respected as in the USA, and it bears no connection with the mythologized idea of freedom and nomadic journey (see DePillo, Poduch 2005; Hamilton 2008; Ouellet 1994). European tractor units are not only places for everyday interactions with the closest ones, but also spaces allowing to express family bonds as well as ethnic and national identity. This is where multisensual representations of locality are developed with the use of all the senses: sight, hearing, smell and taste. These mobile places travel through mobility channels (motorways, bridges, ferries and trains), park in non-places (Augé 1995, 75-115), characterized by standar- dization and anonymity, and their access to zones has very defined limits. Simultaneously, they are also private and intimate places, sealed and shielded from the outside world in spite of the simultaneous, constant, panoptical even access to the outside (Laurier 2007; Laurier, Lorimier et al. 2008, 1-23). Temporary locations in the mentioned non-places blur the definiteness of this category by often taking a repetitive and sometimes routinized form. All types of parking lots, roadsides, transport centers, gas stations, forwarding company bases, industrial zones whe- re the localnesses situated on three square meters, go outside and create a mutual, often natio- nalized relation. So what does dwelling on the road sound like? What can be scientifically achieved through registration and then analysis and interpretation of field recordings? As mentioned before, dri- vers are constantly in Augéan non-places: driving along them and pausing, waiting, being still, spending hours in front of computer screens, smartphone and GPS interfaces, which contra- dicts the common image of mobility. Being in those spaces, or even temporarily living in them, results in the feeling of being suspend ed in time and space and being at the same time everywhere and nowhere, in an ambivalent environment (full of noisy sounds, strong smells, variety of tensions and stimuli or sensually depraving, boring to the breaking point). I locate the experience of tractor unit cab between stimulus and deprivation. The fieldwork among the drivers was ambivalent because, on the one hand, it was very intensive and vibrant (sensually intensive, full of stimuli and stressors), and on the other hand, it was extremely homogenous (noises, stinks, the same tastes all the time, the same routine, the never-ending waiting). The main sources of stimuli were bodies, internal and Audio file 3: Parking for trucks at night. Near of Kolding, Denmark, 2011-08-02. https://app.box.com/embed/preview/bt8us2ixsbduq69ghdm0?theme=dark