Cities and Memory installation across Oxford begins today

The largest Cities and Memory sound installation so far takes place tonight and tomorrow (20 and 21 November) across Oxford city centre.

As part of a collaboration with Oxford Contemporary Music, we’re proud to present Memoryphones: five interactive sound sculptures that allow participants to enter a whole new world of sound by placing their head inside the funnel.

In each location, you’ll hear a field recording of a place linked to the physical location of the installation, followed by the reimagined version of that sound. Each location features sounds from between eight and twelve places around the world, from blowholes in Croatia and minarets in Morocco through to locations in Oxford itself, including the Bodleian Library and a political protest at the Oxford Union.

You can find the location on the map below, and the types of sound represented are:

• Churches and temples (St. Michael at the North Gate)
• Crowds and protests (Museum of the History of Science)
• Museums and libraries (Weston Library)
• Airports and stations (Said Business School)
• Waves and water (Oxford Castle)

For those of you not in Oxford, you can hear the installation pieces in full at the Memoryphones page here.

The installation forms part of Oxford’s Christmas Light Festival, with a host of performances, installations and exhibitions across the city over two days. It runs from 6.00 pm to 10.00 pm on Friday 20 November, and 10.00 am to 10.00 pm on Saturday 21 November.

All the sounds are taken from the Cities and Memory sound map. The following artists’ field recordings and reimagined pieces are represented:

Cities and Memory, Moumita Roy, Gad Whip, Tod Emel, Eric Powell, Andy Lyon, Kim Rueger, Eric Powell, Katie McMurran, Drombeg, Eric Leonardson, Michael McDermott, Shawn Jimmerson, Lee Clift, Benjamin Pothier, Axel Ganz, Robert van Riel, Rand Lo, Eric Boivin, Daniel Williams, Amber-Zoe Cheesman, AJ Born, Alan Bleay, Liz Huff, Joe Barone, Mark Taylor, Lee Barry, Jase Warner, Drombeg, Tim Waterfield, Lemonodo, Stanislav Nikolov, Luke Henrion, Martin Dixon, Alex Hehir, Alexander McHattie,  Nick St. George, Mark Taylor, Geoff Edwards.