Abstract
Sounding Out Liverpool is an installation combining text and two giant reflective listening dishes. It is an invitation to both discover and contribute to the sounds of Liverpool’s culture. A single 2.2 meter high sculptural form houses two 1.8m wide and 0.6m deep parabolic dishes, on the pavement texts from Liverpool’s literary culture make reference to the city’s soundscape. Arts & entertainment, particularly in Liverpool, can be understood powerfully through sound. This 'sounding culture' continually moves and circulates around the people and the city; it is a history carried in memories and through the city soundscape itself. The installation invites interaction with these ideas through textual triggers, drawn from references to this culture, by a deep listening that invites people to hear what they might have within themselves to contribute to the sounding culture of Liverpool and to ‘sound out’ these discoveries into the dishes and the soundscape around them. Installation commission for Liverpool Discovers, Liverpool City Council. St James’ Mount, Anglican Cathedral, Liverpool.