Fragmented Orchestra
Churches to act as neurons in massive musical ‘brain’
Two Church of England places of worship in very different settings have been chosen as venues for an innovative art project known as The Fragmented Orchestra - a huge distributed musical structure modelled on the firing of neurons within the brain’s cortex which this year won the PRS Foundation New Music Award of £50,000.
Gloucester Cathedral, one of England’s most beautiful mediaeval cathedrals set in the west country city famous for its rugby, cheese and Dr Foster, and St Andrew’s, Fulham Fields, a Victorian parish church in a largely deprived area of North Fulham in London were chosen to take part in the ground-breaking initiative. Both churches are far from being new-comers to the world of the contemporary arts. St Andrew’s recently commissioned three new musical works for a Music Festival and collaborated with the Slade School of Fine Art to produce a dramatic new set of the Stations of the Cross, whilst Gloucester Cathedral is one of the homes of the famous Three Choirs Festival and during the past decade has promoted contemporary art through its exhibitions and well established artist-in-residence programme.
The Dean of Gloucester, the Very Revd Nick Bury, said ‘this is a wonderful opportunity to be part of an innovative and imaginative arts project in a cathedral renowned for its magical acoustic. The unit will be placed on our great west doors where it will pick up all the wonderful sounds of a busy cathedral – stunning choral music, the great organ, the chatter of excited school-children visiting the shop, tourists speaking in every kind of language and the vergers hoovering!’
The Vicar of St Andrew’s, The Revd Martin Eastwood, said ‘we are thrilled to have been chosen to host this exciting project in the church here. The neuron unit will be placed in the pulpit in the church and should pick up regular sounds of worship but also of the various sounds coming from our many community activities such as the Mums and Toddlers Group, the Fruit and Veg. Co-Op and the Homeless Project.’
The project is designed by its composers to perform a profound and unique score to thousands of listeners across the UK. The Fragmented Orchestra will connect 24 public sites across the UK to form a networked cortex, which will adapt, evolve and trigger site-specific sounds via the FACT Gallery in Liverpool, the current European Capital of Culture from December 11th 2008 - February 9th 2009.
Amongst the other locations chose are a football stadium, motorway crash barriers and a school playground. In each place a small ‘neuron unit’ will be mechanically attached to the resonant surface of an existing physical structure. All of the neuron units are connected to each other, via the internet, to form a tiny ‘cortex’ and will ‘fire’ signals back and forth when stimulated by sound. The ‘neuron units’ will act as a musical interface and gateway into The Fragmented Orchestra.
When a ‘neuron’ fires, fragments of sounds from its location are transmitted to the central venue in which each neuron unit is represented by its own loudspeaker. Performers, including individuals and groups from each locality, can play each neuron unit and listeners can hear a unique array of rhythms, timbres and pulses created by the cortex at work. The music at the central venue will also be shared with listeners at each of the remote locations through the use of Feonic™ technology, which turns any resonant surface into a high quality loudspeaker. A website will also enable people to tune into each of the neurons as well as the central location.
The Composers
Jane Grant is predominately a visual artist working with film, sound, video and installation. She has exhibited widely in the UK and is currently Principal Investigator at the University of Plymouth of an AHRC funded project, which merges the human voice and breath with neuronal firing patterns to be shown at ArtSway in 2008.
John Matthias is a musician and physicist. He has worked with many artists including Radiohead, Matthew Herbert and Coldcut and has performed extensively in Europe including at the Pompidou Centre, Paris. He is a lecturer in Sonic Arts at University of Plymouth.
Nick Ryan is a composer, producer and sound designer. He won a BAFTA for his ground breaking interactive radio drama The Dark House, broadcast on BBC Radio 4 and has composed extensively for film and television.
Related websites for more information and contact details;
The Fragmented Orchestra fragmented.noise.org.uk
The PRS http://www.prsfoundation.co.uk/newmusicaward/
FACT http://www.fact.co.uk/
Gloucester Cathedral http://www.gloucestercathedral.org.uk/
St Andrew’s, Fulham Fields http://www.standrewsfulham.com/
Fr Martin was interviewed by the PRS Foundation see it Here
See more info on face book