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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)
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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The periphonic audio system: Utilising
8 channels of sound in surround, synchronised multi-channel recordings
and a digital editing system. Light design: Fredrik Lundström
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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.
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Photo: Thor McIntyre-Burnie (West Pier photos)
and Fabio Galli (Fylkingen photos)
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