Marcus Coates, Dawn Chorus, 2007

Here’s a journal covering the research and fieldwork to develop to final work… including making recordings of the dawn chorus. http://www.wildsong.co.uk/mcdc/DCFieldWork.html

“Coates will go to extreme lengths to get what he wants. For Dawn Chorus, he spent a week camping with a wildlife sound recordist, Geoff Sample. The pair lived in a motorhome in Northumberland, getting up at 3am to activate a 24-track digital recorder. They collected 576 hours of birdsong in all – robins, whitethroats, wrens, blackbirds, songthrushes, yellowhammers, greenfinches.” The Guardian, January 2007

Dawn Chorus is an ambitious exhibition comprising films of 19 singers that uncannily recreate birdsong in their ‘natural habitats’. The individuals are located in various situations such as an underground car-park, an osteopathic clinic and a bath-tub, the project is as much a portrait of British idiosyncrasies as it is of the natural world. The films are hung on screens in the gallery according to the position of the birds when they were recorded, creating an immersive soundscape for visitors to the exhibition.

Sukhdev Sandhu, Night Haunts: A nocturnal journal through 2006

http://www.nighthaunts.org.uk/

In this contemporary nocturnal journal, Sandhu prospects in the London night with the people who drive its pulse, from night cleaners to praying nuns, security guards to the Samaritans. In each episode, Sandhu reflects on the nature of the urban night. Has night life been corroded by light and entertainment? What are the invisible forces that pulse through the sleeping city? Is real darkness possible any more?

An ArtAngel Interacton project

The 4am Project

http://4amproject.org/

Creative Director Karen Strunks

The aim of the 4amproject is to gather a collection of photos from around the world at the magical time of 4am. Everyone can take part and join in! All you need is a camera. We want to see what you see at that moment in time on that one day. What’s your view at 4am?

Photo stream from 4am project…

(And I missed taking part on 24th April! shame!…)

And currently on at Whitechapel Gallery…

Ergin Çavuşoğlu’s work refers to Andy Warhol’s film Empire, which consists of a single eight hour shot of the Empire State Building. Filmed in his native Turkey, this video captures the transition from day to night of an apartment block that also houses a mosque.

http://whitechapelgallery.org/exhibitions/elodie-pong-ergin-cavusoglu-dinh-q-le