In Tuesday’s (3/26) Guardian (London), Alan Sykes writes, “A requiem has been written to mark the passing from use of the UK’s remaining land-based foghorns, which for the last 150 years have warned shipping about dangerous shorelines and other hazards during foggy conditions. An armada of boats will be taking part in the performance, with their ships’ horns joining three brass bands on shore, plus the star of the event—the foghorn at Souter Lighthouse. Artists Lise Autogena and Joshua Portway have teamed up with composer Orlando Gough to create The Foghorn Requiem, which will be given a single live performance on the North Sea coast on June 22 as part of the Festival of The North East. … The audience’s experience of the work will depend on where on the shore they stand, and on weather conditions on the day. A series of small computers equipped with GPS will control the horns of some of the boats, compensating for the time delay in sound traveling from up to several miles away, so that the music coming from out to sea will be heard in harmony with the sound created on land.”
Posted March 28, 2013
