Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Pierre Sauvageot: Harmonic Fields


On our first day in Weymouth, we went to the amazing sound installation in an old Portland quarry, Harmonic Fields. This was part of Inside Out Dorset and the piece itself was part of the London 2012 Festival (the 2012 cultural olympiad).



Harmonic Fields is an ensemble of 500 instruments, played by the wind. Harnessing this natural energy, life is breathed into the orchestra, creating a symphonic soundscape, unique to each visitor.

Pierre Sauvageot, creator of Harmonic Fields explains. “We’re constantly bombarded with new noises, which amplify, until we no longer listen. Sounds from Harmonic Fields are quiet and come at their own pace, like waves on the seashore. It is music in its simplest, most primal form.”


It was an overcast and windy day – the rest of the week was sunny and calm, and apparently there was less wind to play the instruments. In fact there was so little wind later in the week that the last day of the Paralympic sailing was cancelled.

Here's a video I found on YouTube...






My videos....




There was a lot of art on in Weymouth when I was there, although I'd missed much of the work in the B-Side Multimedia Festival as it was in its last week. Managed to see Stig Evans' Portland Colour Library of Portland and Beijing artist Lu Zheng's Waiting For Godot, both on Chisel Beach at Portland, but unfortunately missed a live gig by Bristol improv duo Eyebrow at Sandsfoot Castle since it was our last night.

Richard Harris: Jurassic Stones

Have just spent a week in Weymouth. Saw some art, but didn't see this...

 
Richard Harris's Jurassic Stones. See www.richardharrissculpture.co.uk/jurassic.html

The BBC covered the unveiling of the sculpture in February 2012: "A collection of 16 Jurassic stones mounted on steel plinths have been unveiled in Dorset to mark the 2012 Olympic games. The sculpture is near the Jurassic roundabout in Littlemoor, Weymouth, and is close to the venue for the Olympic and Paralympic sailing events.

The project is funded by Arts Council England, Dorset County Council and Weymouth and Portland Borough Council. It cost £335,000 and is part of a three-year project costing £725,000.

Each boulder weighs between two and nine tonnes. They were formed between 160 and 65 million years ago in an area of the county that would have been a tropical lagoon.

The sculpture was designed by Devon-born artist Richard Harris. Mr Harris said: "I was inspired to work with the large Bencliff Grit stones when they were revealed by the road excavations on Southdown Ridge, to preserve them and to give them a new life after millions of years under ground."


Karen Ryan


My neighbour John sent me this link...www.flickr.com/photos/bykarenryan/

Karen Ryan is a contemporary British designer. "Necessity, fate, autobiography and subversion are the key influences upon my practice. I generally use what others discard. Every discarded object is imbued with its own living history. This everyday provenance is used as narrative in the objects I design and make."