The new, temporary, venue for the Connect strand of the Bluecoat Arts Centre opened at 51-53 Paradise Street. Its called ‘Out of the Bluecoat’ (clever eh?). The ‘soundscape’ project is on there until the end of this week – Jan 28th and is well worth a visit. Here’s all the info…
A unique “soundscape” of Liverpool, a city in transition, has been recorded and edited by a group of young people, capturing the soul of our city in sound. They have worked in equal collaboration with a sonic artist, an acoustic ecologist and a performance poet to record and document the sounds that most of us allow to wash over us almost unnoticed.
The project has introduced young people to the concept of listening more closely to the everyday sounds that we generally take for granted whilst teaching them the skills and processes of editing and recording.
The participants wandered the inner-city streets of Liverpool, capturing the city’s sounds and conversations using a range of equipment from boom microphones to dictaphones.
The collected and created sounds have inspired visual soundscapes, word games and poetry which are all part of the ingredients to compliment the unique sound experience.
Bec Jones, Bluecoat Arts Centre’s Participation Manager says, “Bluecoat felt it was important to capture the sounds of Liverpool at this period of intense change. By involving local young people and artists this has been done in a creative and quite magical way.”
Alex Decoupigny, the sonic artist from Germany who worked with the young people commented; “We gave them such a free range and they did not disappoint us, but gave us the best recordings you can imagine”
The work will be presented to the public in an innovative surround-sound experience at Bluecoat Art Centre’s new ‘Out of the Bluecoat’ space, 51 – 53 Paradise Street. The free exhibition will be open 11am – 5pm Thursdays and Fridays, 10am – 4pm Saturdays from 14th to 28th January.
Pool of Sound has been managed by Bluecoat’s innovative participation programme, Connect. Connect continues working with artists and communities throughout Bluecoat’s closure for renovation and development. This project was organized in conjunction with Merseyside Youth Association, Frakture and Windows Project with support from the University of Liverpool’s Acoustic Research Unit.
This project has been made possible through funding by Arts Council England and the Liverpool Culture Company and Urban Cultural Programme who are working together for European Capital of Culture 2008.