Alex Baker: A Recurring Sequence of Events

About

A Recurring Sequence of Events: a site-specific sound installation created for St Augustine's Tower - the oldest building in Hackney. A continuous loop of 72 speakers circulate the tower connected to a customised turntable that physically moves the sound of a D minor chord through out the tower. A continuous loop of 72 speakers circulate the tower, spiralling up the staircase, across the top room of the clock tower before cascading back down through the shaft of the clock's weights to complete the circuit.
The sound of a D minor chord is heard literally and physically moving along that line. The gentle, urgency of a D minor chord ripples away from you following its course through the tower becoming almost imperceptible before racing back down the shaft and cascading over you chasing its route back around the staircase again.
The speakers connect through several kilometres of wire to a customised turntable with 72 individual contacts located on the top floor in the Bell Room. As it revolves it connects to each of the 72 speakers in turn, creating the effect of a continuously moving D minor chord and activating the building with sound.
The installation is a development from Movement in D Minor presented at among other locations the Jerwood Gallery in 2001. This new version takes advantage of the physically and historically resonant space of St Augustine's Tower. The cyclical movement of the sound both relates to the physical shape of the building and also to the building's function as a clocktower - timekeeping and rotation.

St Augustine's Tower is Hackney's oldest surviving building, standing in the centre of what was once an ancient village and dating back to the end of the 13th Century. It was most likely built by or on land owned by The Knights Templar, it has recently been restored by Hackney Historic Buildings Trust.