Workshops, Installation and performance with Cathy Lane at Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore and Kerela.
The seas are busy with maritime traffic carrying diverse cargos all over the world. These vessels transverse the globe, following complex protocols, interacting with each other as well as with shore and coastal water based communication systems. At any given moment there are hundreds of ships in Indian waters and ports and the 4,671miles of Indian coastline are scattered with lighthouses and coastal warning systems.
‘Beam’ will invite the listener to hear and poetically re-imagine this maritime activity centering on the role of lighthouses. The material and structure of the work will be gathered from and informed by lighthouses and shipping activity along the coast of Kerala coast centering on Kochi, one of the largest and oldest ports in India. After initial research in Bangalore the group will travel to Kerala and make field recordings, conduct oral history interviews and listen to marine radio. The group will also research archival material reflecting Kochi’s maritime past and listen to radio communications. The resulting sound installation will be composed from this material and be informed by the position and movement of ships, other maritime installations and sounds that relate to that activity through the sonic translation of AIS (Automatic Identification System) data. The group will also look into how they can make a performance score using that data.
This project will involve elements of performance; experimental performance scores; documentary, historic and archival research; sound recording (field recording); oral history interviewing; sound editing; composition; sound mixing; production and presentation of a public sound installation. The outcome will be a multi-channel sound installation and performance.
Cathy Lane is one of 19 interenational collaborators working with Srishti School of Art, Design and Technology in Bangalore for Srishti Interim 2014.