UK sound art, video, animation, photography and digital arts - C-Sounds - Plymouth South West England

C-Sounds

C-Sounds is a pilot project beginning to investigate new ways of using sound art, video, animation, photography and digital arts to explore environmental and regeneration issues.

Centred in the Mount Wise area of Plymouth, C-Sounds worked with four schools -Marlborough, Mount Wise and High Street Primaries, and Long Cause Special School-and established a partnership with Jo McCaren at Seymour House Learning Centre, Ben Ballard and Nicholas Grew from the Plymouth Music Zone, Richard Marsh of Barefoot, and Sundog Media ’s Stuart Moore and Kayla Parker.

Each school had an initial introductory session o­n the science of sound and vision by Science Made Simple – an organization  based in Cardiff University – and worked for two days at Seymour House and out o­n the waterfront nearby, before moving to the Music Zone for the main editing process.

Jo McCaren from Seymour House says, “What began as a ‘science of sound ’ project evolved into an exciting, dynamic,and creative learning experience for all the participating children and adults. The children ’s knowledge and understanding of ‘sound ’ was greatly enhanced by the new ‘hands-on ’ learning apparatus – two enormous ‘whisper dishes ’ and the ‘tangle tubes ’ tower -recently installed in the grounds of Seymour House.

“The camera obscura enabled the children to embark upon a ‘visual journey of discovery ’. The contrasting views from the underground viewing-room, of the local urban environment, the ‘sea- scape ’ and the city-centre, truly captured their imaginations.“

The core idea was to use animation and sound to explore and to capture  the essence of the local environment, and to begin to understand the issues inherent in it. Kayla Parker from Sundog Media says: “I ’m really interested in the stories children create to explain the world around them and the ways in which they communicate what they see, hear and imagine, to other people. To some of the children, the Scott Memorial statue is a fairy, Seymour House is ‘See-more ’ House, because from the camera obscura you get a 360 degree view, and the ‘whisper dishes ’ talk to each other when there ’s no o­ne around to hear them!”

Ben Ballard from the Plymouth Music Zone commented that the best bit for him was: “seeing the kids really becoming aware of their environment -opening their ears and eyes to what ’s around them, and capturing a sense of excitement in everyday sounds and images.”

Sundog Media are now compiling a DVD of all the work, which is to be launched at a special showing for all the students at a Plymouth  venue.Jo McCaren says, “The wonderful sounds and images collected by the children are a testament to the success of this highly enjoyable project.”

Kayla Parker adds: “It ’s been brilliant working o­n this project with Ben and Nicholas from the Music Zone and Jo from Seymour House. I ’ve been really impressed by the ideas of all the children involved and how they have responded so positively to the challenges of this project. The DVD will mark the end of a very special project for all of us. I hope we all have the opportunity to work together again.”

For more information about C-Sounds contact Ed Whitelaw at edward.whitelaw@creative-partnerships.com