Liminal (Frances Crow and David Prior)
“Of This Parish”
Installation: 08-09 June 2013 (2-‐6pm) | Free entry
Performance lecture: 08 June 2013 (12:30-1:30pm) | Free tickets: www.ofthisparish.eventbrite.com SoundFjord, Unit 3b – Studio 28, 28 Lawrence Road, LONDON, N15 4ER
Opening hours: SATURDAY: 12:30-‐1:30 (lecture); 2-‐6pm | SUNDAY: 2pm-‐6pm
Bells have had a central role in the formation and solidification of communities. They have an immense power to evoke, to impart a feeling of time passing, foster reminiscence and to consolidate an individual’s identification with an auditory site. The idea of a ‘Parish’ – a common device used to delineate territory while also defining a sacred community – is an articulation of acoustic space: the Parish can therefore be said to be the zone in which a church bell can be heard. This notion of ‘Parish’ as phonosphere is the point of departure for Of This Parish.
In April 2013 sound artist/composer David Prior and architect Frances Crow were invited by Binaural/Nodar to contribute to their residency programme as part of their Divina Sonus Ruris: Creative Labs in Sound Art programme (Sound of the sacred in the rural environment) in the Gralheira mountain range, North Portugal.
Their work focused on the bells of the Parish Church in Sul, which formed the epicenter of the project. During the 3-week residency, Liminal devised 4 sound walks that were undertaken simultaneously by 8 young people from the surrounding areas of Oliveira, Aveloso and Sul. The walks started from the Sul Parish Church, to the sound of its bells being rung. At the beginning of the walk, the 8 recordists stood in pairs, back-to-back, each facing in the direction of the four compass points and then walked slowly along existing paths and roads that led most directly North, South, East and West.
The subsequent recordings were played back in the church simultaneously, each recording rendering the acoustic scene from a different perspective to the others. At the beginning, the recordings sound very similar but as the recordists move along their respective paths, only sounds loud enough to permeate each local environment – such as the church bell – permeate all four recordings. In this way the presentation of these four recordings in a single space creates an impossible listening experience, collapsing the entire acoustic territory of the Parish into its epicentre; the church that defines it. This site-specific installation was presented as part of the Tramontana Festival in Sul, on 27 April 2013.
During the weekend 08 – 09 June, Liminal will present an installation specially devised for the SoundFjord gallery based on ideas, sounds and images developed during the residency. At 12:30 on Saturday 08 June, Liminal will present a performance lecture in the gallery. The event is free, but a seat reservation must be booked (no admin free) here: www.ofthisparish.eventbrite.com.
Liminal’s attendance at the residency and presentation at SoundFjord is made possible with support from Binaural/Nodar, Arts Council England and Falmouth University’s Sonva research group.
Liminar is a partnership between architect Frances Crow and sound artist and composer David Prior. They began working together in 2003. Their work focuses on exploring the relationship between sound, listening and the environment. It encompasses site-specific interventions and sound walks, gallery installations, performances, research and consultancy as well as sound and music environments for exhibitions. In 2010 Liminal won the prestigious PRS for Music Foundation’s New Music Award for their piece Organ of Corti, an acoustic instrument which mediates the sound of the environment. Organ of Corti subsequently won the John Connell Innovation Award 2011 and received an Honorary Mention at Prix Ars Electronica 2012 in the Digital Musics and Sound Art category.