Allan Crescent Flats - FLAT 122
Nest - Hanna Tuulikki
SEE EYE 23rd - 24th March 2007
The derelict condition of many of the flats on Allan and Duncan Crescents - boarded up and no longer habitable – makes for a dark and eerie space, haunted by memories of the past. Nest seeks to alter the feeling of these spaces using the medium of sound and light. By animating the space with two ‘dream machines’ Hanna’s work aims to highlight the dual aspects of sanctuary and the darker, alienated activities which have reduced them to their current state, finding expression in ideas of fantasy/nightmare.
“When we listen to a particular song or piece of music
we are often reminded of a particular feeling, or a certain time
or place in our lives. Similarly more abstract sounds have the ability
to transport us to another psychological space, another reality.
By composing such a sound piece, played through speakers in one
of the flats, I hope to alter the reality through the creation of
an immersive, ambient sound world.” (Hanna Tuulikki)
The sound piece consists of recordings made in parks and woodland
areas in Abbeyview on a March morning. The sounds of the wind through
the branches, of birds, dripping water, and the running water of
a brook, alongside the stirring of the inhabitants walking their
dogs and getting ready for another day, are presented as a woodland
idyll. This has been mixed and incorporated into a full composition
for multiple speakers, being augmented with other sounds made by
Hanna, using her voice to imitate the sounds of animals and birds
that lived in the area before it was urbanised.
The second component of the installation – the ‘dream
machines’ – consists of two magic lanterns made from
cardboard cut outs, which animate the space, creating moving shadows
on the walls that form fantastical woodland silhouettes. They are
reflected in mounted mirrors, creating a window from one reality
into another. Together the sound and light work to awaken the spirit
of the deserted flat, creating a dream-like space that moves between
the comfort of children’s night-lights to the distortion of
nightmares, whilst blurring the boundaries between the human habitat
and the natural, woodland habitat.
After the event one of the lanterns will be donated to Abbeyview crèche, which has been based in the ground floor flat on Allan Crescent, and was one of the last places to be vacated. The other lantern will become part of the Cabinet of Curiosities, to be launched in August.
Chris Hladowski
Chris
Hladowski
Hanna
Tuulikki
Michael
Wilson
Karen
Vaughan
