Dawn Chorus

A lovely installation at Fabrica as part of the Brighton Festival by Marcus Coates.

This consisted of a multi-screen film installation showing people sitting in their own surroundings, on a bed, in a car, at a desk, with the sound of bird song all around you. As you look at the people they are apparently singing in turn. It had a rather calming effect with the lovely sound and these quite still people.

When  you read the commentary you also realised that the bird song was actually the voices of the people in the film and they were mimicking the sound of a bird and in some cases the movement. He recorded bird song, slowed it down to simulate human tones, recorded people mimicking that sound and then speeding that human recording back up to the speed of the birds. It created a sound that was, to my city ear, the same as the bird song.

The whole thing gave an impression of morning routines both of the birds via the idea of the dawn chorus and of the people. The handout says it is “as much a portrait of British society as it is of the natural world”.