Preview Are You Listening Leeds?
A new "soundscape" art project that captures the sounds of the city has got people's ears pricked
Preview: Are You Listening Leeds?
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A day in the life of the city has been captured in sound by three innovative Leeds artists.
The project, Are You Listening Leeds? recorded the everyday sounds that makes Leeds unique: the cries of traders at Kirkgate market, the ringing of Meanwood bell tower, the bustle of commuters at the train station and the echoing stillness of spots like the Dark Arches – as well as lots of unexpected sounds in-between.
The project captures an entire 24 hours of the city’s diverse sound world and collapses it into just 24 minutes. It was developed by local musicians Jed Skinner, 24, and Joshua Saddler, 23, and postgraduate student Kristina Diprose, 24. The trio wanted to find the everyday rhythms of city life – from the mundane to the extraordinary – to produce an “audio adventure”.
Jed recalls that they stumbled across some unexpected surprises during the recording process, “like the scrap orchestra rehearsing in an empty shop in Granary Wharf”. But some of the sounds they were trying to find were elusive. “The project has been a lot of fun, and we have all learned something new about Leeds,” Kristina said. “But some of the sounds we wanted were hard to pin down – the quest for owls nearly drove us mad!”
Are You Listening Leeds? can be heard on Saturday 12th June at Leeds Shopping Plaza Ground Floor, from 10am until 4pm as part of Art in Unusual Spaces. For one day only the installation is taking over an empty retail unit in the city centre, with shoppers and art-lovers invited to step over the threshold and listen to the intimate and ambient whispers of the exhibition.
Other events will be launching on Saturday 12th June as part of Art in Unusual Spaces, an on-going project that makes creative use of empty units in the city centre. Mirrored rooms, toothpasty windows and helium balloons will also feature, with refreshments served between 3pm and 5pm.
A stereo version of Are You Listening Leeds? using window-mounted speakers will then run in the same shop unit until Saturday 3rd July.
Joshua explained that the project has given him a fresh perspective on the city. “I suppose I’d never really stopped before and listened to the noises at a lot of the areas we recorded. And when I did, they didn’t always sound like you’d expect.”
12 June – 3rtd July, Ground Floor, Leeds Shopping Plaza, LS1 5ER, 10am-4pm, www.artinunusualspaces.co.uk
Posted on Tuesday 8th June 2010
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