WHISPERING IN THE LEAVES
Rain Forest Sound Installation by BAFTA Winning Sound Recordist Chris Watson at Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens (29 February - 9 March) ADMISSION FREE Live Performance: 6 March, 20:30 Talk: 8 March, 14:30 Film screening: 'The Life of Birds', 8 March, 15:45
Described recently by Broadcast magazine (the TV industry Bible) as one of the top ten most influential technicians in British Television, BAFTA winning sound recordist and artist Chris Watson has created a major new sound installation which will transport audiences from Sunderland's Winter Gardens to the exotic soundscape of the La Selva, Costa Rican jungle via a unique sound installation, 'Whispering in The Leaves' (29 February to 9 March).
As part of AV Festival 08 Chris Watson's rainforest installation will use 16 surround sound speakers hidden in the Garden's tropical hothouse to recreate the experience of being in one of the World's most remote and protected places.
A founder member of seminal 1980's Sheffield electro-punk band Cabaret Voltaire, Chris Watson has made his name with a wide array of natural history projects such as the highly acclaimed BBCTV/David Attenborough series 'The Life of Birds' (for which he won a BAFTA Award for 'Best Factual Sound'), 'The Life of Mammals' and 'Life in the Undergrowth'. He has most recently completed work on Attenborough's forthcoming BBCTV series 'Life in Cold Blood' (5x50mins) due to be broadcast Spring 2008.
Explains Chris: "Rainforests are home to more than half the wildlife on earth. Twice each day, hundreds of primates, thousands of birds and millions of insects broadcast their presence in dawn and dusk choruses of a myriad voices - mostly unseen, but heard far and wide through the dense dark greens of the tree canopy and rolling out across the dank leaves of the forest floor".
At hourly intervals throughout the day, visitors will be immersed in a surprising and dynamic surround soundscape of dawn and dusk chorus.
On 6 March Chris will perform a live sound mix in which recordings of a three or four hour period across late afternoon and into the night will be compressed into around twenty minutes. Featuring recordings of a tropical thunderstorms and ending with the deep, lush sounds of the nocturnal insect chorus, the performance will create an intense auditory narrative for the audience.
On 8 March Chris will give an exclusive talk for AV Festival 08 when he will discuss his new work and his other sound art and electronic music projects dating back to his pioneering bands Cabaret Voltaire and the Hafler Trio, through to his work on many of the BBC's landmark natural history series. Watson has transformed the way we hear the sounds of nature on radio and on television and following the talk he will introduce an episode of the award-winning David Attenborough series 'The Life of Birds' which includes the dawn chorus which took Chris two years to record and edit!
AV Festival 08 is organised by Audio Visual Arts North East, an independent charitable company. AV Festival 08 forms part of North East England's world-class festivals and events programme managed by culture10, based at NewcastleGateshead Initiative.
LISTINGS INFORMATION
Venue: Sunderland Museum & Winter Gardens, Burdon Road, Sunderland, SR1 1PP
Free entry, opening hours: Mon - Sat 10am - 5pm, Sun 2pm - 5pm.
T: 0191 553 2323
W: www.twmuseums.org.uk/sunderland
Installation: Fri 29 Feb - Sun 9 Mar 08
Live performance: Thurs 6 Mar 08, 8.30 - 9.00pm
FREE but limited capacity to register your interest contact bookings@avfestival.co.uk
Artists' Talk
Sat 8 Mar, 14.30 -15.30 & Screening 15.45-17.00
Chris Watson discusses his new work Whispering in the Leaves. The talk will be followed by a screening, in which Chris will introduce and screen BBC nature documentary the Life of Birds made with David Attenborough. Free, for bookings contact bookings@avfestival.co.uk
Websites: www.forma.org.uk / www.twmuseums.org.uk/sunderland
NOTES TO EDITORS
Artist's biography
Chris Watson's work as a wildlife sound recordist includes both work for television documentaries and experimental musical collaborations. In 1971 he was a founding member of the influential Sheffield-based electronic music pioneers Cabaret Voltaire. Watson's sound recording career began in 1981 when he joined Tyne Tees Television. In this year he also became founder member of the experimental music group The Halfer Trio.
He has released three solo albums of field recordings: Outside the Circle of Fire, Stepping into the Dark (which won an Award of Distinction at the 2000 Prix ARS Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria), and Weather Report. He has also released several collaborative projects with other artists, including Star Switch On, a collaboration with Mika Vainio of Pan Sonic, Philip Jeck, Hazard, Fennesz, AER, and Biosphere. He has also released two CDs with Swedish sound artist BJNilsen. All of these recordings were released on Touch.
His work as sound recordist for the BBC includes The Life of Birds for BBC TV - BAFTA Award for Best Factual Sound 1998, The Life of Mammals for BBC TV 2001, and Big Cat Diary for BBC TV 1998-2002. Watson's recordings can be heard on numerous radio productions including A Swallow's Journey for BBC Radio 4 - Sony Radio Award Nominee 2002, The Oak Tree for BBC Radio 4 2006 - featured in BBC Radio's Pick of the Year, and Sounds of the Galapagos for BBC Radio 4 2006.
In 2006 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Technology degree by the University of the West of England "in recognition of his outstanding contribution to sound recording technology, especially in the field of natural history and documentary location sound".
Forma Arts and Media Producers
Forma is one of Europe's leading production agencies for high quality, interdisciplinary contemporary art. Collaborating with some of today's most interesting artists, it produces, tours and publishes groundbreaking new projects that seamlessly combine diverse media. Its programme pioneers new hybrid forms of music, visual art, film, new media, dance, theatre and live art.
Forma's international programme encompasses single concerts and large–scale tours for leading performing and visual arts venues and festivals; one–off exhibitions in established visual arts spaces; screenings at film and new media festivals; and major public realm projects that engage with particular places.
Recent projects have included collaborations with artists Antony and the Johnsons, Charles Atlas, Juan Cruz, Graham Dolphin, Christian Fennesz, Doug Fishbone, Carsten Nicolai, Lone Twin, Ryuichi Sakamoto, and Jane and Louise Wilson. The company also exclusively represents the work of Ryoji Ikeda, Lynette Wallworth and Gina Czarnecki to produce and tour their work worldwide.
Forma is supported by Arts Council England
For further information visit www.forma.org.uk