Intro to Bangor Sound City
What is Bangor Sound City?
It's a new project to create public sound-art installations in and around Bangor.
What is "public sound-art"?
You could say sound-art is art that you listen to rather than look at. Instead of using paint and canvas, the artist uses anything that makes a sound. Perhaps some speakers linked to a tape machine or carved wood that whistles in the wind.
Public art just means art in a public place for anyone to enjoy - like a town square.
Sound-art comes in all sorts of shapes and sizes, sometimes it's just the sound itself, sometimes you can see it too, sometimes you can even interact with it.
Here's two pictures of sound-art work. The first is in a New York tunnel. You can't see anything, speakers play a composition of sounds recorded in Central Park. The second one is in Canada - its a public fountain that's also a watery organ anyone can play!
Here's another one in Croatia - the sea interacts with this one making sounds like an organ as the tide goes in and out.
Why sound-art? Why Bangor?
Public sound-art can be fun, stimulating and nearly always intertesting. It's quite a new thing, there's not a lot of it in Wales or the rest of the world. Bangor could be a great place to host this exciting art form.
Bangor already has strong connections with sound and new music including Electroacoustic Wales, the School of Music at Bangor University and the Bangor New Music Festival. Bangor Sound City will strengthen and develop that long association.
Public art can improve the quality of our environment and the lives of people who live there. It can also attract visitors, increase spending and dramatically improve the economy of an area1.
Where exactly would they be?
They could be anywhere - in the street, outside the railway station or hospital, in a park or even a supermarket. Wherever it is, the artists will make works to suit the chosen place.
If there's somewhere you'd like to see some sound-art, let us know!
How long will they be there?
Initially for short periods perhaps for a day or up to a month. If that goes well, permanent sound-art works could be made for Bangor. In the longer term, Bangor could become the UK's first 'sound-art city' - the place where people come to enjoy sound-art.