Media
Release
For immediate release 13 May 2005
Sound Sculptor Turns Railway Arches into
Giant Acoustic Instrument
Internationally renowned US artist Bill Fontana will transform the
labyrinthine Dark Arches of Leeds into a live sound sculpture -
Sound Lines - for two months from 21 June 2005. Launched
during Architecture Week, a specially designed loudspeaker system
will emit the live sounds of the River Aire below and the Leeds
City train station above as Fontana orchestrates an ever-changing
composition transforming the space into an immense, brick-built
acoustic instrument.
Since 1976, Fontana - originally trained in philosophy and music
- has worked in major cities from San Francisco to Kyoto, Paris
and London. In 1994 he created a sound sculpture from the Arc de
Triomphe, transposing live sounds of crashing waves off the Normandy
coast and the cry of seagulls, 'silencing' one of Europe's busiest
traffic islands. In 2004 Big Ben received international attention
when it became a unique sound sculpture, enjoyed by parliamentarians
and passers-by.
For Sound Lines hydrophones (a device used to listen to
underwater energy) will be sunk into the course of the River Aire
as it is re-directed under the arches. The musical water sounds
will be played back through loudspeakers along Dark Neville Street.
A series of microphones installed in the vast architecture of Leeds
City train station will relay an acoustic description of trains
arriving and departing, and the sound of station announcements,
into the river arches below. And accelerometers (sensor device used
to measure or listen to acceleration within material) will be attached
directly onto buffer stops at the end of rail tracks in the station
detecting the constant sound of trains approaching and coming to
a stop.
Bill Fontana commented "The medium I work in is a kind of ugly
duckling. It does not fit in the art world and it does not fit into
music. It is on the edge of different worlds. For me, the urban
and natural environment is a living source of musical information
and I was inspired in Leeds by the River Aire which flows through
the Dark Arches and has had a defining impact on the development
of the city, on its architecture and its layout.”
Sue Ball, Director of MAAP, said of Sound Lines "On
a daily basis, we experience the bright lights of the city but this
work, whilst invisible, creates a world of its own and a totally
new urban experience. The sounds come from deep in the belly where
the city began its life; at a crossing point of the river and where
the mills were built. Bill Fontana's contemporary approach and the
meticulous crafting of technology ensure that the Dark Arches resonate
with their industrial heritage, the landscape and environment whilst
creating something completely new, energetic and optimistic."
The Holbeck village area of Leeds is at the centre of exciting plans
to turn the Granary Wharf at Leeds Canal Basin into a unique village
on the waterfront. Waterside regeneration specialist ISIS recently
submitted its plans to Leeds City Council which propose a high-quality
scheme of commercial, residential, retail and leisure, plus a major
new public square in one of the city's best-oved but currently under-utlised,
quarters.
Sound Lines has been commissioned by Leeds based Lumen
and Media & Arts Partnership (MAAP) and funded by ISIS (British
Waterways Regeneration Co Ltd), Arts and Business, Arts Council
England Yorkshire, and Leeds City Council.
— Ends —
For information, interviews with Bill Fontana images and digital
sound recordings contact Anita Morris on 0943 603311/07976 584592.
[email protected]. Bill Fontana will be available
on site for interviews/photos from 24-31 May when the work is installed.
Editors' Notes
Bill Fontana is an American artist known internationally for his
experimental work using sound. Fontana uses urban and natural environments
as a living source of musical information to radically transform
the acoustic meaning of public space. His extensive body of work
includes temporary and permanent pieces in New York, Paris, Vienna
and London, and live music commissions for radio by the Australian
Broadcasting Corporation and Austria State Radio. Bill Fontana’s
international portfolio - www.resoundings.org.
Architecture Week Get Closer to Architecture is the theme for this
year’s Architecture Week. From 17-26 June this is a celebration
of the built environment throughout the UK, initiated by Arts Council
England. Now in its ninth year Architecture Week aims to bring buildings
to life through a series of visual and sensory experiences. 500
events are scheduled to take place up and down the country.
Isis Waterside Regeneration Ltd and Lumen have received an investment
of £18,000 from Arts & Business New Partners to aid the
projects realisation. Arts & Business New Partners is funded
by Arts Council England and the Department for Culture, Media and
Sport
Media & Arts Partnership (MAAP) is a leading public art consultancy
that creates opportunities for artists to work in partnership with
a diverse range of public and private sector organisations within
the context of city regeneration. Creative projects focus on bridging
the gaps between arts disciplines to engender new ways of thinking
about the history of the city and the spaces we occupy.
Lumen is a not-for-profit organisation with a national and international
reputation for producing challenging, high quality arts programmes.
Lumen’s activities include the operation of an AV equipment
hire resource, technical consultancy and the development of an artistic
programme which generates learning and educational resources. Central
to Lumen’s artistic programme is the production of Evolution
for the Leeds International Film Festival which each year brings
together international artists, filmmakers and curators for a programme
of screenings, lectures, live performances and exhibitions. www.lumen.org.uk
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