
Nearly a year in the making, the project has involved a wide cross-section of life in Armagh as we have sought to understand the City through the ears of those who live there and record our sonic minutes for our virtual timepiece. At every stage of the way, people have been supportive of the project, and the variation of the sounds that are featured in the work really reflect the generousity of everyone’s time in helping us capture the different sounds.
The recordings range from the intimate to the well-known – from pre-natal ultrasound to grave digging – referencing local trades, leisure and nature. A visual element in the centre of the gallery provides a guide for listening, and together the sounds combine to give their own account of the City’s identity, the people within it, and our changing soundscape.
The work will be on show at the Main Gallery at the Market Place Theatre, in Armagh from Friday 16th April until the Saturday 15th May, 2010.
Building on his previous work in investigating different soundscapes, Robert Jarvis has been working in tandem with Northern Ireland artist Julie McGowan to create a new sound artwork based on the sounds collected from the City of Armagh. The work takes the form of a virtual timepiece utilising the whole of the Main Gallery space, and playing a different sound recorded from around the City every minute.
With the aid of twelve loudspeakers positioned around the gallery in similar manner to the numbers around the circumference of a clock face, each of the sounds pans around the gallery space imitating the sweep of a clock’s second hand. The recordings range from the intimate to the well-known – from pre-natal ultrasound to grave digging – referencing local trades, leisure and nature. Together, they combine to give their own account of the City’s identity, the people within it, and our changing soundscape.