👂🏻sounds like: ✉️ an invitation to Open Space 70 ✉️

🏔 come and see an A/V exhibit I've made with some school students all about nature up near Hebden Bridge 🏔

Beloved reader, this is a brief email to invite you to:

David, what is that?

Glad you asked, here’s what it says on the website:

Open Space 70 is an environmental arts project & festival, made by and for the people of Calderdale. ​ Environmental experts, professional artists, and first-time makers have worked together to create art for Open Space 70 across all genres, through attendance at workshops, courses, as part of project groups and through independent creativity.  

Enjoy a celebration of 70 exhibitions and installations, happenings, performances, workshops, talks and walks at spaces in and around Hebden Bridge, including a weekend Arts Trail and a free programme of family friendly events. 

Oh that sounds really nice, and Hebden Bridge is beautiful

It does doesn’t it! And yes it is

You aren’t even from Calderdale, you’re from Bolton, what are you doing there?

I’ve been working with some students in Rastrick High School near Halifax to make sound art pieces with students there

This is just like when you and Jonny won Ramsbottom’s Got Talent as a Flight Of The Conchords tribute act when you were 16 even though you aren’t even from Ramsbottom. But fair enough you fall under the ‘for the people of Calderdale’ bit

Wow okay rude of you to bring that up but whatever

What were the students like?

Really cool and nice, and they’ve made some really great pieces

What will it sound like?

We’ve been making soundscape art inspired the sounds of nature and the local environment, and all of the students’ pieces are going to be played as part of an installation

Oh right okay, did you make that kind of sound art thing up or was it someone else’s idea originally?

There’s a lot of history of this! We looked mostly at Hildegard Westerkamp and R. Murray Schafer, Canadian sound artists who made a lot of work related to nature. R. Murray Schafer wrote a book called ‘The Tuning Of The World’ where he talks about nature as being a big piece of music that we all compose together. If you’re interested, here’s a really great video of him talking about his ideas:

That was rubbish. In fact, I hate sound art.

Wow steady on there’s no need for that, weird of you to be subscribed to this newsletter tbh. There’s visuals too

I’m not subscribed actually I just read

Okay I respect your choice but if you change your mind:

What kind of visuals?

I’ve designed a little model

What does that look like?

Here’s what the design looks like:

And here’s a video of me building it:

David McFarlane

David McFarlane on Instagram: “laser cutting for Hebden Bridge Arts Festival”

July 7, 2023

What’s that light up bit at the end?

That’s projection mapping–the model is going to light up with videos and animations that go along with the audio, and match to the piece of nature each student has made a piece about. At the moment that’s all test video though, it won’t look quite like that

What will it look like?

Well you’ll just have to come and see it

You haven’t even told me where it is

Oh yeah sorry, it’s at the lovely Heptonstall Museum, right near Hebden Bridge:

I’m still not convinced

Well what are you interested in

Brilliant 20th century poets, novelists and short story writers

Wow so weird that I imagined a reader with those specific interests, actually if you look on the map the museum is right next to Sylvia Plath’s Grave so you can come and pay your respects while you’re there

Also weird that you imagined me as not liking that other stuff before that, what’s that about? Is it like a personal thing or were you doing that as a writing device to set up the next question?

Don’t read into it too much

This is starting to sound like a day out, what if I’m busy?

It’s on display on July 15th-16th which is a weekend, if that helps

Is anything else happening that weekend?

Yeah there’s honestly absolutely loads happening for the festival, you can read the whole programme here

What if I don’t live anywhere near there?

Then I’m sorry I have wasted your time imaginary reader, and thank you for reading this far into an email you knew from the start was doomed to end in disappointment

I have questions about something

Oh great I would love to hear them, and my next email is probably going to be about how it went/some of the background to the piece/some technical stuff about how it’s made, so if you reply to this email with what you want to know I can answer it next time

It’s not a question it’s more of a comment

Yeah send that over too I like reading replies

Alright cool, is there anything else?

No I think that’s it!

Sweet see you next time you need to imagine someone

Bye!