Liminal
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Tranquillity is a State of Mind
Arts practice Liminal were commissioned by Sustrans with support from The Wellcome Trust to investigate the perception of sound and the effect of unwanted sounds on an individual's psychology. Their final proposals for sculptural installation The Organ of Corti arising from this research is recent winner of the prestigious PRS Foundation New Music Award.
Their research has focused on notions of tranquillity and developing proto-type proposals for a final sculptural installation on Sustrans National Route 45. This included a four day Sound Cycle Ride from Worcester to Cricklade (NCN 45) in April 2009, when they invited local residents to join them to listen to the landscape, then survey and record their perceptions.
Organ of Corti
In July and August 2011, the Organ of Corti toured England, and was installed and open to the public at four iconic sites. It will be altered in response to the different sounds found at each of the four locations:
July 1-7: City of London Festival; Carter Lane Gardens, St Paul’s Cathedral (51°30'47.37”N,0°5'53.44”W)
July 9-11: Lake District Summer Music Festival; Lay-by on A685 overlooking M6,Tebay Gorge (54°24'1.73”N,2°36'17.99”W)
Aug 15-17: Cotswold Water Park; Lake 6, near A419 (51°40'6.43”N,1°53'34.48”W)
Aug 19-21: Worcester Music Festival; Diglis Weir, River Severn (52°10'47.27”N,2°13'35.56”W)
'The Lost Frequency: In Search of Tranquillity'
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This event introduced by consultant town planner Max Dixon and hosted by Arup, explored Liminal's research through a sound and video installations and previewed their proposals for a sculptural installation - 'The Organ of Corti'.
In a world saturated by unwanted sound the 'Organ of Corti' explores how unwanted noise can be recycled and perceived by walkers and cyclists, to offer a new framework by which to listen to the local environment.
As winner of the PRS New Music Foundation award - the UK's most ambitious music prize - Liminal have been awarded £50,000 to realise the final work. Photograph by Will Strange.
Download the final project report from Related Documents. Or to view further videos, images and research proposals for the project visit 'Tranquillity' on Liminal's website.
The research team on Tranquillity includes:
Professor Sue Denham, Professor in Cognitive and Computational Neuroscience, University of Plymouth; Dr Amr el-Refaie, Audiological Physician and tinnitus specialist, Hearing and Balance Studies, University of Bristol;Seb Jouan, Associate and Spokesman of the Arup SoundLab, Arup Acoustics, Glasgow; Professor Greg Watts, Professor of Transportation Noise, School of Engineering, Design, and Technology, University of Bradford.
20ft to an Inch
As part of Liminal's 'Tranquality is a state of mind' project, artist Rob Colbourne talked to people visiting the riverbanks of the Severn about their observations and experiences of the location. The Bromwich Parade path was marked every twenty feet, inspired by a scale used in engineering drawings by Edward Leader Williams and seemed appropriate to explore ‘every inch’ of the river bank. The canal tow path which runs from the River Severn into Worcester city centre is part of the National Route 46 and links with Route 45 via the new Diglis Bridge.
Over a three month period, around three hundred people walked up and down the riverbank, recording like artists, but thinking in many different ways. Local schoolchildren recorded their observations, sounds and stories as did archaeologists. Colbourne recorded the important conversations he had with many groups and individuals, whilst walking with them between the twenty foot marks.
The result is a kind of 'prospect map' or a story of the riverside that might be used to inspire us to continue exploring the city's connection to the river. As one voice said on a river walk... "Any landscape is art isn't it? It doesn't necessarily have to be painted". Perhaps it just has to be experienced.
In the end of November the ‘text-map’ in the form of a twelve metre banner of "20ft to An Inch" was displayed on the bank on the River Severn in Worcester, near the Diglis House Hotel. You can view the text-map here or come browse it in the flesh when it is next displayed in The Dean's Chapel, Worcester Cathedral in Spring 2012.
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