Music | The Fragmented Orchestra
9 January – 22 February
Open house sessions
The Fragmented Orchestra
Winner of the PRS Foundation’s New Music Award 2008
Friday 9 January · 1 – 3 pm
Wednesday 14 January · 11 am – 1 pm
Thursday 22 January · 9.30 – 11 am
Sunday 25 January · 1 – 3 pm
Thursday 5 February · 11 am – 1 pm
Monday 16 February · 1 – 2.30 pm
Sunday 22 February · 1 – 3 pm
A huge, geographically distributed musical
structure, The Fragmented
Orchestra will mirror the
function of the human
brain and the way it
processes
sound to produce
a compelling and ever-changing
new instrument and composition. Selected as one of 24 venues nationwide, the Barber Concert Hall becomes part of ‘The Fragmented Orchestra’
The 24 venues were selected by artist Jane Grant, composer, musician and physicist John Matthias and BAFTA winning composer and sound designer Nick Ryan for their inherent sonic rhythms, to create a unique score that will be performed to thousands of listeners throughout the UK. From a cattle market in Aberdeen to the Brighton Seafront, from London’s Roundhouse to Everton Football club, a remarkable and diverse range of locations are connected via the internet to form a networked cortex, which will adapt, evolve and trigger site-specific sounds via FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) as part of Liverpool’s European Capital of Culture programme from 12 December to 22 February. Anyone can play The Fragmented Orchestra and the public are encouraged to visit their local sites at the open house sessions and help turn the UK into one weird and wonderful new instrument.
Here’s how it works: A sound-box modelled on the neurons found in the human brain has been installed at each site and attached to a pre-existing resonant surface. Each of the neurons will be connected to each other via the internet to form a tiny cortex and will ‘fire’ signals back and forth when stimulated by sound. When this happens, fragments of sound from each location will be streamed to the central venue at FACT, where each neuron unit is represented by its own loudspeaker. Across all of the sites, the public will be able to ‘play’ each neuron unit by creating local sound and hear the effect this has on the overall composition.
www.thefragmentedorchestra.com
Admission free |
