Beacon
is an interactive sound and light installation commissioned
by South Norfolk Council through Commissions East as part
of the Contemporary Arts Norwich and as part of the 900th
anniversary celebrations for Wymondham Abbey and ran for
ten weeks through the summer of 2007.
The work is a reaction to the idea of the tower as a beacon
in the landscape visible for some distance and also the intimate
acoustics of the internal space. The relationship between the
sound and the light has a transforming quality that animates
the usually tranquil place.
Beacon is collaboration with John Hardy Music, who created
a two-hour sound piece that plays inside the tower each evening.
Three banks of coloured lights react to both the volume and
frequency of the sound to illuminate the tower in a mixture
of blue, purple and magenta. The sound piece has no rhythm
or melody but is made up of the human voice, bells and organ
sounds, which drift in and out of focus as they overlap and
occasionally collide.
A microphone has also been incorporated into the piece so that
singers and musicians have an opportunity to interact with
the tower bringing it to life with their own voices.
