FIELD RESEARCH:
Our research into alternative clocks began on Stereochron Island in 2014* with the Spring dawn chorus. We completed them with this sound study at dusk around the time of Vertumnalia, the ancient celebration of seasonal change.
The model for this final field study came from the BBC’s first live outdoor radio broadcast. On 19 May 1924 millions of people listened in on the private exchange at twilight between the cellist Beatrice Harrison and the wild nightingales in her Surrey garden. As she played Londonderry Air the nightingales appeared to join in, almost suggesting a kind of entwining of human- and bird-time.
As glorious as Harrison’s performances were, she played familiar tunes, rather than entirely improvising with the birds. So, for our final field study on Sterechron Island, I invited cellist Natalie Rosario to respond to the unpredictable sounds at dusk on the Island from the water birds, the wider park and the city beyond.
On 13 August 2014, a hundred of us gathered near the Pagoda on the lake isle to hear Rosario’s duet with the dusk. You can listen and watch her performance here. The sound is designed to be listened to with headphones.
*Stereochron Island was my project as artist in residence in Victoria Park, London, for Chisenhale Gallery (2013-14).
Archive image: Beatrice Harrison performing with nightingales at dusk.
Cathy Haynes 
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