COMPOSITION FOR A TRAINSTATION

Site-specific 20-channel-sound-installation, Birmingham, UK (2014)
Speaker, sound, neon colored tape

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The neighbourhood Longbridge in the South of Birmingham, UK, has been dominated by the Longbridge plant, which produced Austin and most recently MG Rover cars. Every day thousands of workers arrived here by train, bus or car, until the factory closed down in 2005 and the large number of commuters was drastically reduced. Nine years later, upon invitation of the Longbridge Public Art Project, a site-specific installation was created for Longbridge station.

The work "Composition for a train station" is based on observations of the daily activity at Longbridge train station, with a particular focus on the rhythm of people moving through it.


Experiments with noises recorded at the train station led to the creation of an interactive soundscape as a new interpretation of the audible environment. A composition made from collected sounds, and sounds created by playing barriers like musical instruments, was presented as 20-channel installation along a ramp leading from the platform to the train station. Mirroring the movement of the installation visitors, the sonic patterns moved up and down the ramp. As such, visitors were encouraged to contemplate the patterns of their own movement.






Spoons attached to the barriers invited to consciously contribute to this "soundtrack of transient occupation".