AUDITORIUM 1: a new ‘soundmark’ by Mary Hooper

It was February 2021 and DLWP was in its third closure of the pandemic when artist Mary Hooper asked us if she could have access to the auditorium for a day to create a soundmark for lockdown.

This is the work from that day :

This sound work is a homage to an Alvin Lucier sound resonance experiment “I am sitting in a room” 1969 where certain frequencies become emphasized as they resonate in the room, until the words or other distinct sounds become unintelligible, replaced by pure resonant harmonies and tones of the room itself. The first recording you hear is replayed and re-recorded 12 times until just the resonant acoustic remains. This is my ‘soundmark’ for the lockdown where Auditoria all over the UK have been silent for a year, unprecedented since WW11. The images of the empty theatre creating a visual resonant reminder of public events cancelled during lockdown 2020 – 21.
Thank you to the De La Warr Pavilion team for enabling me to do the recording and make this work.

Mary Hooper February 2021

You can see and hear more in the Auditora series here

Mary Hooper is a multi-disciplinary visual artist working in the public realm, healthcare and the community. She works collaboratively with professionals from different disciplines, creating a stimulating and challenging creative environment for testing ideas and developing her practice. Following on from a major touring project in 2018, she is building on existing works and skills in research and experimentation in Sonic and Digital Art, supported in 2019-20 by an a_n Artists Bursary and DYCP grant. She is a director of Radiator Arts Community Arts in Hastings, and has worked as a curator, arts consultant and educator.

Image by Mary Hooper

Posted by sally on Saturday 27 March 2021