A bespoke route was mapped for the "Explore Medway" open top bus and guest musicians, vocalists and photographer invited to create unique audio-visual experiences as the bus wound it's circular route over, under and along the Medway between Chatham, Rochester and Strood.
To listen to the tracks Click Here to visit the Art Transmission page.
The project team were;
Jane Pitt
Michael J. Proulx, PhD Senior Lecturer [Associate Professor] in Psychology University of Bath & Visiting Senior Lecturer in Multimedia and Vision Electronic Engineering and Computer Science Queen Mary University of London
Sam Randhawa a classically trained Indian Musician who also produces contemporary music
Mike Snarr a Lighting Designer/digital developer and
Sian Thomas a percussive dancer, choreographer.
We used The vOICe as a digital tool to inform our action research.
The vOICe is a visual to auditory sensory substitution device developed for blind users,
it enables the user to experience a complex sonified translation of a digital image of their immediate surroundings via a portable set-up of head mounted camera,
headphones & PC notebook.
Developed in Holland by Dr Peter Meijer and used by Michael J.Proulx in his research on cross modal sensory perception,
like any structured new language it requires training to become fluent,
for longer term users it is second nature to process the structured language of volume (brighter = louder) and pitch (= height).
Interestingly the auditory input from the device has been found to activate the visual cortex while in use.
This multi-sensory processing, combined with the concept of translating the unseen into the 'seen' through sound,
were Jane's motivation for initiating the project.
You can find out more about "The vOICe" at www.seeingwithsound.com
Public participation formed an important part of the research; including an online sound perception experiment, exploration of gesture to describe sound, and workshops with Artlink Central and musician Claire Docherty to develop a vocabulary of sounds to describe objects as well as with Rivervoice Choir to develop architectural 'soundings'.
You can see and hear our shared research at www.janepitt.co.uk/trans-space
TRANS:SPACE R&D was funded by Arts Council England, South East
To listen in to some of the broadcast, get more information and see images from the project Click Here
The soundtrack playing in the Changing Rooms Gallery edited by Jane is an aural document of the Abrupt Encounters artists' collaborative orientation and response to their sonic adventures in public space;
featuring a layering of live recorded vocalising, field recordings and studio recordings devised together with Claire and Jane using her vocal 'Sounding' methodology to navigate the top of the town from the Castle to the Tolbooth in a series of live interventions.
www.abruptencounters.com
www.artlinkcentral.org
Ri-zound took Medway's Fuse festival out on the river. 100 floating Medway voices resounded aboard the Kingswear Castle Paddle Steamer.
Experiencing their home towns with fresh eyes and ears directly from the river this buoyant choir celebrated and vocalised the sounds and rhythms of the River Medway that underscore their everyday lives.
Recorded & photographed live; edited sounds and images of the sonic voyage, photographed by Mike Snarr www.photography.mikesnarr.com and Sara Norling www.saranorling.com,
were installed inside the unique Kent Cultural Baton silver airstream caravan (designed by artist Nicole Mollet) for everyone to enjoy over the FUSE 2012 weekend.
Rizound' was a 2012 FUSE SPARK commission.
www.janepitt.co.uk/rizound
Ayr Bourne was commissioned by UZ arts for ROOFLESS http://roofless.org.uk/2012/05/22/ayrshire, at Burns an' a' that Festival, Ayr, Scotland 2012
Ayr Bourne - conjured powerful, funny & uncanny reinventions of South Ayrshire's sonic fingerprint. Participants from Girvan Resource Centre,
Braehead Primary & Lochside Girls Group tuned in, transformed, voiced and recorded the resonances of Ayrshire during May 2012.
Their voices finally coming to roost as 3 edited tracks installed in St Johns Tower the digital installation mingling with the live sounds of this ancient stone building,
for the weekend of Burns an' a' that Festival June 2012.
www.janepitt.co.uk/ayr
What's the most distinctive or memorable sound along Lower Halstow's shore?
..the gluhp of mud .. the chink of pottery..?
Everyone is invited to join Jane Pitt in discovering the sounds Of Lower Halstow on a sound mapping walk this Sunday 4th December from 2:00 - 3:00pm.
The walk is part of the artist's ROOM bursary. Visit www.swale.gov.uk/aatc for more information about the bursaries.
Please wear stout shoes and warm clothes.
Meet at 1.45pm by the Edith May Barge. The barge will be open for teas before and after the walk. www.edithmaybargecharter.co.uk
Old Brick Works,
Lower Halstow Dock,
Lapwing Drive,
Lower Halstow,
ME9 7DZ
(Also this weekend open studios at The Old Reedbed Studios Lower Halstow, visit www.oldreedbedstudios.co.uk for more information)
There will also be a night time sound walk on the 10th of December 6:00 - 7:00pm, meet at the ROOM mobile space next to the Edith May Barge in the same location at 5:45pm.
If you cannot make either of the walks you can pick up a card from one of the "Creek Sounds Boxes" that can be found at various locations around Lower Halstow (or download a .pdf of the card by right clicking here and selecting "save as" then choose a location on your computer to save the file), jot down your favourite sound and return the card to one of the "Creek Sound Boxes" or return it directly to Jane who will be working in the ROOM mobile space next to the Edith May Barge from the 8th to the 14th of December.
Why not come and join us to see and hear the finished artwork and enjoy a glass of mulled wine or hot chocolate on the 17th of December from 2:00pm in the ROOM mobile space next to the Edith May.
The finished work will also be on display in the ROOM from the 15th to the 18th of December 10:00am - 4:00pm.
The Eccentric Pub Opera was commissioned in 2011 by Public Art House & Tunbridge Wells Museum for the Opera House Pub,
Mount Pleasant, Tunbridge Wells & presented in the Pub Nov 2011-May 2012
Was it the beer or the building talking? The Eccentric Pub Opera revealed hidden sounds of the Wetherspoon's Opera House Pub,
in a re-working of a traditional opera.
The 12 minute soundtrack was created by layering recordings of the fabric of the building,
old 78 records and regular's voices; laughter, songs and bingo calls evoking the ghosts of entertainment past in the building's century of variety,
opera, cinema and bingo. Resulting in a soundtrack that temporarily shifted the listener's experience of the pub as they listened on headphones amid the everyday hubbub.
The title referenced sheet music Toad Rock Eccentric Dance by local composer Handel Parnum found in the Museum archive.
In collaboration with the Museum curator Ian Beavis a selection of ear trumpets were exhibited alongside the work.
Visitors to the pub could also participate with the work by making their own versions of the pub opera see Opera Jam at:
http://publicarthouse.tumblr.com
www.janepitt.co.uk/eccentric
Soundings began life in the public places and outside inside spaces of Glasgow in March 2011 and found it's first full form during Roofless at Merchant City Festival
July 2011 (commissioned by UZ, funded by In Situ).
It can happen anywhere. The public are invited to probe the city sound scape; to tune in together,
become 'sounders' weaving our way through the streets, a cluster of auditory beings gathering sounds to embody, utter and vocalise - an instant urban phonic choir.
Soundings re-invents the streets through sound heard, mediated and uttered by the participants led by Jane and additional Sounder Guides.
Transmitting our 'soundings' from person to person we weave a strangely potent, subversive and funny digression, navigating as one flock on an undetermined route,
anchored and tuned in to the moment.
www.janepitt.co.uk/soundings
churrip
....zrrreeee
....wu-WHOOP, wor-hoo
....tree-r-r-r-r-r-eee
Have you tried saying any of these words above out loud? Any of them sound familiar when you do? These peculiar words represent the sounds made by the birds that share our open spaces. These unusual words were used as the bassis of an innovative project called Flutterances that launched in Medway and North Kent in May 2009.
Find out more about Fluttering and Flutterances at http://www.janepitt.co.uk/flutterances
‘WunderKammer‘ (literally Wonder Cabinets) is a series of three dimensional magical objects.
The WunderKammer are created from an eclectic range of found items, ballcocks, fethers, mirrors, birdcages and domes, that are transformed from the ordinary and mixed with specially created mechanical and electronic devices to create different eye-spy experiences.
Find out more at http://www.janepitt.co.uk/wunderkammer
