Urban Resonances

About

Urban Resonances is a site specific sound installation at St John the Baptist Church in Newcastle upon Tyne. The work uses the 8 church bells in the tower as both instruments and microphones, amplifying their natural resonance and using them as a method of reinterpreting the sounds of the inner city. 

Energised by the natural motion of the earth the bells combine to create complex tones and timbres, modulated by vibrations from the under and overground transport in the city. At the same time the bells act as pickups, able to capture and translate the urban soundscape, each imparting their own individual texture from being affected in different ways over the course of their unique histories. These sounds will be captured individually and amplified into the church below, placing them back into the context in which the bells are traditionally heard.