AN IMMERSIVE art installation exploring the local community as part of a historic cathedral’s 900th anniversary will launch this Friday in Edinburgh.
900 Voices, which is also part of this year’s International Festival in the Scottish capital, will be held in St Giles’ Cathedral to help celebrate the site's milestone.
The art installation currently features around 220 hours of interviews with residents from the city, aged from three to 93, where they speak about belonging to their communities.
Around 270 people have taken part in conversations for 900 voices, but it is hoped that hundreds more interviews will be added up until the end of November when the installation finishes.
Answers from the interviewees have been added to a database which selects keywords from people’s conversations and plays extracts through the cathedral’s multi-channel sound system.
Sound artist Zoë Irvine worked with artist and designer Lindsay Perth and composer and sound designer Jules Rawlinson to create the unique art experience which was funded by Creative Scotland.
Irvine explained the combinations which are selected and played together are unique and listeners will never experience the same combination twice.
She said: “The way the installation works is using a bespoke computer programme that Jules has created that searches and sifts through all of the material and brings moments of conversations to the surface in relation to each other in different ways.
“I had this vision of what it would be like for people to experience the cathedral with all these different voices echoing around talking about belonging, connection and community.
“If lots of people are using the word ‘nature’ there might be a moment when nature becomes the theme – it might be a child and an older person, any person, brought together by common themes.
“We were sound checking the other morning, when we heard someone talking about the experience of being a single parent through one speaker, whilst through another speaker we heard a man talking about his sense of connection through being in a choir.
“That combination will never happen again, it shuffles all the time.”
The recordings took place in weekly sessions over several months at St Giles’, as well as libraries and community centres in Edinburgh.
Volunteers who helped with the recordings received training on how to use equipment and interviewing techniques on how to guide conversations for the project.
Interviews lasted usually between 20 to 45 minutes as interviewees spoke about issues which affected them and their communities.
“People have talked about really difficult things too – about recovering from alcoholism, health challenges, about racism, about prejudice – because in order to talk about belonging people have sometimes had to talk about not belonging,” Irvine added.
Sarah Phemister, St Giles’ Cathedral head of heritage and culture, said 900 Voices will showcase inclusiveness and connections amongst local communities.
She said: “We are delighted that the voices and stories of the people of Edinburgh are going to form a central part of the legacy of St Giles' during our 900th year.
“The 900 Voices project's key themes of connection, community and belonging are so important to explore in today's society and central to our mission to be an open and inclusive space for all.”
Rev Dr George Whyte, interim moderator of St Giles’, added: “For 900 years the voices of so many people have echoed round the walls of the Cathedral.
“It is entirely fitting that as we pass this milestone we hear each other talk about the things which matter to us and which we hold in common.”
900 Voices is open to the public every Wednesday between 4 – 6pm until November.
Details of how to visit the installation during the International Festival can be found here.
