Ghostbird

Notes

This long, immersive soundscape was created for Louise Ann Wilson's Ghost Bird, - a silent walk and live art installation specific to an upland valley in the Trough of Bowland, north-west England. The only indoor element of Ghost Bird, in a firelit shooting barn, was an extended dance sequence, choreographed by Nigel Stewart and performed by Julia Griffin over the 5-hour duration of the work.

The soundscape was made in 4 separate and semi-independent tracks of different durations and textures, three based on water sounds from the valley's river at its nearest point to the barn. The fourth track used recordings of game-bird shoots. Some of the tracks ran in a fixed sequence and others in random order, so that the final mix varied continuously over the duration of the installation. They were played from mp3 players hidden within the scene-dressing of the barn.

In performance, the water and abstract soundscape mingled with the natural sounds from outside - the river, the wind, and the rain on the corrugated iron roof of the barn. The occasional bursts of shot-gun fire mingled with the crackling of the wood fire warming and lighting the barn.

In 2013, Ghost Bird was re-worked for gallery presentation. Documentary photographs were displayed, along with the most striking artefacts from the original installations. The sound was once again presented in a small and intimate setting within the overall exhibition from hidden loudspeakers.

Performances and Exhibitions