A kinetic sound drawing by

Saturday 13 September 2003 - Sunday 14 September 2003

Reading Hindu Temple and Community Association, 112 Whitley Street, Reading

Context

In collaboration with Heritage Open days and the Hindu Temple and Community Association, Artists in the City, Reading commissioned musician and sound sculptor Max Eastley to create an installation for the Hindu Temple in Whitley Street, Reading.

The piece celebrates the building's rich history and its changing use by two religious communities. Built in the early twentieth century, the architectural space reflects the desire of Methodist preaching to bring together the congregation in an informal, expansive semi-circle on two levels. The original architectural elements are still in place. The floors, seating and walls have been recently refurbished and are now used as a community space by the Hindu Temple.

Project

Working with sound engineer Dave Hunt, Eastley used sand, stone, iron and electrical motors to generate a tapestry of sound that permeated all corners of this former Methodist chapel. A series of stones were placed in a circle on a bed of sand and gently brushed by a central rotating metal arm. Varying sounds were produced by the contact of metal on stone. Each stone was fitted with a contact microphone and the signals picked up were sent to loudspeakers through an Ambisonic surround matrix thereby enlarging the aural dimension of the stone circle. Three independent cycling rates: the circular motion of the sculpture, the amount of amplification and the amount of reverberation combined to create a continually shifting aural perspective of the sculpture and the space containing it.

Artist

Max Eastley has been working as musician, composer and sound sculptor for many years. Recent projects have included the sound for the Siobhan Davies Dance Company's 2002/3 production Plants and Ghosts. In 2001 he was Research Fellow at the John Moores University in Liverpool. He has just completed a recording with David Toop, due for imminent release on CD. During a recent expedition to the Arctic he made a number of sound recordings. Eastley is currently working with Miguel Santos and Victor Gama on a project Atlantic Waves funded by the Gulbenkian Foundation to be presented in December 2003.