A NEW seafront sound installation will play echoes of the previous day’s activities.
The project, entitled Ready to Drop, was conceived and created by Brighton-born composer Orlando Gough and John Del' Nero.
The installation will be presented at the Brighton Beach Basketball Court from 10pm to 10am from August 20 to 26.
While walking together through Orlando’s hometown last year, the duo say they were struck by the energy, joy, competition and communication of the court and its users, from basketball players to roller skaters.
The hour-long sound installation of recordings, wind, sea and original composition will be played on a continuous loop each night, filling the air with echoes of the previous day.
Orlando said they wanted to capture the “cacophony of sounds” and translate them into an hour-long composition made from found sound and music.
“We looked for relationships between these two sets of sounds and made them into music that envelopes the listeners, disorientates them, and makes them look at the landscape again,” he said.
John added: “After dark, when the court is empty, the basketball sounds will be played back, filling the air as if the ghosts of that day were still playing. Sounds of the halyards and rigging will be added.
“The range of sounds will be extended: on the one hand human sounds - conversations, arguments, announcements, on the other hand natural sounds – sounds of the sea that range from the gentle to the apocalyptic.”
Artistic director of Artichoke Helen Marriage, who produced the installation, said Ready to Drop is the first of three major new projects the company are producing in the second half of this year.
“Artichoke is always about the live experience, and we want to show how outdoor arts can revive and renew after a year in which we pined for social interaction,” she said.
“Orlando Gough and John Del’ Nero have conceived and created an amazingly subtle and magical work that can be experienced communally and yet with enough space to feel secure.
“I love the idea of people happening upon and being enchanted by this incidental soundscape on the Brighton seafront in the dead of night.”
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