Went to the live performance of Silent Sound this evening and as you can see I parked my transport right outside!
Actually this is ‘Ballet Mechcanique’ by Ben Parry (note his trademark washing machine bits) and Jacques Chauchat from Paris. Look out for it on the city street during the Biennial. Even if you don’t see it, you will probably hear it.
But inside the newly refurbished concert hall it was very quiet except when the small orchestra where playing music that was specially composed by Jason Spaceman of the band, Spiritualized.
The tickets for the show had been deliberately shuffled so that everyone was sitting next to strangers.
The artists, Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard walked on and climbed into a soundproofed booth.
The event was introduced by Dr. Ciarán O’Keeffe, a leading authority in psychology and parapsychology from Liverpool Hope University also known for his media appearances on Living TV’s ‘Most Haunted’. He has worked closely with the artists to underpin a strategy combining modern scientific and pseudoscientific techniques to consume and physically affect the audience to create a deliberately highly charged situation.
Didn’t feel highly charged to me but I enjoyed the music and collected my newly-burned CD of the performance on the way out.
Read the full story on the artists website: http://www.iainandjane.com/work/silentsound/