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Fylkingen Artists In Residence, April 2001

A PIER-A Sound Installation

Thor Mcintyre-Burnie (UK) in collaboration with Chris Watson (UK)

 

A Piering is a creative study of a unique site and a special phenomenon, the late Victorian West Pier in Brighton and it's natural development during dereliction. The primary point of interest is the interplay between the pier's current physical state and its function as a zone of public space for birds and people alike. The late Victorian pier has been closed and derelict for over 30 years. It has since been repopulated by birds, primarly a missive migratory starling colony. The starlings have developed a nightly ritual of mass flight above and around the pier before settling to roost with the setting sun -a majestic and often awe inspiring visual phenomenon which routinely attracts audience and stops strollers in their tracks.

Financial neglect emergency repairs natural forces and history have shapoed the pier and the starling colony in ways that never could be repeated. The pier has changed from being a public walk and pleasure place to a form of museum exhibit. Despite its closure, its prominent location and its romantic grandeur has kept it in the public's heart. The pier is however about to radically change and be retored to a new condition. the dominant population will be humans again. no one is sure wether the starlings will remain and the pier will no longer reside in haunted decay and mystery. The timing of this residency is therfore crucial.

 

Utilising primary sound recording and accompanied by photography, the artists Thor McIntyre-Burnie and Chris Watson traced the changing atmosphere of the pier's concert hall, including it's natural and urban environs, the ocean beneath and the dynamic starling roost. The recording process involved collecting various sonic perspectives simultaneously. different specific microphones were positioned around the space so as to collect a range of perspectives. Synchronised multi-track recording, coupled with sessions at different times of the day meant an extraordinarly rich collection of recordings could be gathered, i.e. recordings ranged from late afdternoon bathers o n the seashore, the sunset starlings arrival, the night roost, distant police sirens, individual nesting, through to the waves of starlings departures at dawn. The end result of the project was an exhibition linking the migratory path of the starlings from their winter refuge on the pier to their summer migration north of Scandinavia.

As the starlings migrated back to Scandinavia, from the south coast of England, two artists flew out with them - bringing a sonic diary from a special starling winter roost, a concert hall of a weathered Victorian pier in Brighton, to Fylkingen in Stockholm. The installation A PIER provides an insight into a special isolated space. 24 hours on the pier will pass in just under an hour, cycling through the arrival and depature of the starling colony. the result being an installation that changes over time - filling, settling, awakening and depaturing until we are left, amongs the pigeons.

 

The periphonic audio system: Utilising 8 channels of sound in surround, synchronised multi-channel recordings and a digital editing system. Light design: Fredrik Lundström

In its creation the project utilises both a multi-channel recording process and photography. The resulting exhibition formed a time-based installation. Employing a periphonic sound system, choreographed lightning, gobo and slide projections and usable deck chairs.

Viewers entered the darkened space at Fylkingen via a corner doorway, stepping over a projected "concert hall puddle" and across a sonic threshold into a periphonic arena of sound & light. The 3D nature of the sound meant viewers could navigate their own perception of the mix depending on where they walked or sat. around the darkened space an assortment of old deck chairs were loosely arranged for comfort and effect.

 

 

Photo: Thor McIntyre-Burnie (West Pier photos) and Fabio Galli (Fylkingen photos)

 

 

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