Expo Plymouth will be a packed weekend of free sound installations, sonic ferry tours, performances, exhibitions, happenings, a sonic picnic, workshops, gigs, presentations and DJ sets.
Expo Plymouth takes place from June 22-25, 2007.
Presented by the internationally known Sonic Arts Network with the Plymouth-based Institute of Digital Art and Technology (i-DAT), Expo is the 'hub and playground of the experimental music and sound art scene in the UK and beyond'. The event is free and open to all, and places sonic art and the people who make it in direct contact with the public.
Meanwhile, the city's young people are part of the Expo Youth angle to this exciting event, thanks to support from Creative Partnerships - the organisation that works to place creativity at the heart of the curriculum.
Young sonic artists from all over the city have been commissioned in a professional process to create ingenious sonic art installations that will be dotted around the city during the festival.
'The nature of the art work celebrated at the Expo festival is often quite a long way from what’s taught in schools,' says Ed Whitelaw, from Creative Partnerships, Plymouth. 'The young people who have been successful at the commission stage have been the ones who have been able to break away from traditional ways of thinking, who have been able exhibit divergent thinking and original ideas; skills that are increasingly desirable in contemporary society. The sounds they produce might be labelled noisy, wrong or even uncreative. However, they will be on an equal billing next to other artists in gallery spaces.'
Ed said that the festival will span the high academia to the sonic-nonsensical. 'If you’re a kid there’ll be a lot of fun - if you’re an academic there’ll be something for you too,' he said.
'They’ll be something educational, something playful and something surreal and it’s all happening in Plymouth,' he added.
Selected young people’s installations, under the Expo Youth banner, include:
- a hot-dog stall that records sounds from passers-by, then performs sonic shows in the city centre;
- appearances from the Fruitarians - a girl-group dressed as singing raisins
- giant sound-reactive inflatable sweets;
- animated fish that trigger sub-bass experiences for onlookers; and
- guerilla junk-funk gigs throughout the city centre
The rest of the festival sees an eclectic range of events including:
- sonic ferry tours
- amplified marble races
- 60 robotic birds
- sonic river-wading
- an interactive sound see-saw
- a sonic swim at Tinside Lido
- The Snorechestra – sounds of Plymouth slumbering
- an orchestra led by semaphore signals
- sonic photographers
- a pirate mini-opera
- a sonic picnic for all the family
All the installations will be dotted around the city - from Tinside Lido to the Royal William Yard. Plus traditional venues and urban spaces will be targeted for this sonic art-attack on the ears of Plymothians.
The festival aims to inspire practitioners and the public to reconsider their environments and explore the possibilities of sound.
Highlights of this year’s Expo festival include:
Friday 22 June
Evan Parker and the Behaviour Ensemble
Terraces Cafe, Plymouth Hoe, 8.30pm - 9.30pm
Plymouth Sound is the backdrop for this festival launch fanfare and outdoor site-specific performance by free improvisation legend Evan Parker and 17-strong cracked electronics ensemble, Behaviour.
Saturday 23 June
Lock, Stock and Barrel
The New Cooperage Building, Royal William Yard, Stonehouse, 12.30pm - 5.30pm
Expo refills this historic space, once the backbone of the British Navy, with sound and activity, curating a packed programme of sonic production. This event will include a brand new festival installation featuring 60 robotic birds by Jane Edden, Dada-spirited high jinx from Patrizia Paolini and the celebrated Adam Bohman, amplified marble races, river-wading and groundbreaking research into conceptual sonic photography.
Sunday 24 June
Sonic Picnic
Western King Point, Stonehouse, 1pm- 5pm
A Sunday afternoon public intervention in this disused military installation. Bring a hamper, entertain the kids, walk the dog and enjoy an afternoon of outdoor sonic art. Highlights of this surreal happening include mutilated trombone and electronic sound from Tom Bugs and Hilary Jeffery, an orchestra of roving performers led by semaphore signals, a pirate mini - opera and a see-saw reimagined as a multichannel interactive sound installation.
Louise K Wilson
Tinside Lido, Plymouth Hoe
Friday 9.30pm, Saturday and Sunday 10am - 6pm
Audio-cultural archaeologist Louise K Wilson launches a new Expo-commissioned installation that traces the resonances of sound, memory and meaning echoing through the bricks of this extraordinary, newly restored public space. Friday evening will feature a stunning sound and light show and on Saturday and Sunday bring your bathers to experience a unique underwater sound installation during the Lido’s weekend opening hours.
Sonic Ferry
Take a seafaring audio ride from Plymouth Hoe to the Royal William Yard festival sites on the Expo Sonic Ferry. Laptop duo The Splicegirls provide the soundtrack to your seaborne journey.
Expo Late
Three nights of ear- and eye-bending late entertainment. A fringe night featuring local labels, DJs and artists at Club Fandango.
Expo Noise
Multichannel sound and video abuse with a sonic jigsaw and a six-turntable freakout thrown in for good measure at The Hub. While Grizzled noise punks battle for breath with electronic improvisers and circuit bending pranksters at the White Rabbit in the brutalist surroundings of Plymouth central bus station. Acts featured over the three nights include Semiconductor, Portable, Icarus, Grewtronic and Monstrous Little Women.
Expo Youth
With the support of Creative Partnerships, a diverse range of Plymouth’s young people of all ages muscle in on Expo adding a virulent avant-local twist to our programme. Their work features sub-bass triggered animated fish, raisin situationism at Devil’s Point, a voice-mangling hot dog cart and giant sound reactive inflatables.
Distributed City
Web-based interventions, sound-walks and city-wide spontaneous performances. We listen to Plymouth and Plymouth listens to us.
Expo Conference Day
Monday 25 June, University of Plymouth, 10.00am-5.30pm
A day of research presentations exploring sound in space and perceptions of the aural experience with guest speaker Leigh Landy (Organised Sound/De Montfort University).
All Expo events are free
Expo is supported by:
Arts Council England, i-DAT, PRSF, Creative Partnerships, Plymouth City Council, Bath Spa University, Deep Blue Sound, Pyramid, Urban Splash and the University of Plymouth.
