6 Week Catch Up

They say life is what happens while you are making other plans.

Whilst not having spent the last 6 weeks entirely dedicated to this project I have however made some considerable progress and changes. I will pepper this post with images whilst attempting to bring things up to speed.



I managed a site visit to Folkestone to see the space for the show and met with one of the lovely organisers. We had a chat about timings, installations, take down and available resources, projectors, monitors etc... I found the visit invaluable and it has shaped my decisions there after.

I spent more time researching Zeppelines and the King Stephen incident as well as more time putting together the technology that will relay the sounds from the Light house via the parabolic mic connected to the mobile phone.

I have been in contact with Andrew Gibson the YWT warden to arrange my site visit on the 4th July to set up the equipment. Andrew requested I put the YWT logo on all supporting material (as per usual) and blogs. Once finished at Spurn I will return to London and then on to Folkestone to do the install on the 5th, ready for the 6th.

Ive spent the last week in the studio building the recording platform to hold and house the equipment and running sound tests.






I decided upon a final sculptural/ installation idea to convey some of the sounds and ideas behind the project. Using the messages in bottles (found by fisherman in their nets describing the King Stephen incident and the LZ 19 final hours by its crew) idea I have wired up some old furniture from the light house using cheap head phone speakers and small usb/ mp3 devices to make the sound recordings play from inside a collection of found bottles. There are some things I still need to collect from Spurn to make this complete but I do not see their being a problem. I will just need to do a little beach combing around the lighthouse for some crab pots lost and washed up. In my experience there are usually half a dozen lying along the front at any point.































Using some old picture frames from Fullers brewery that were left over from shows at Tate Modern and Milton Keynes Gallery I have printed off some historical images of the Point and the lighthouse as well as news images of the LZ19 incident from home and abroad.



I also have a short film of a ship sailing slowly and very closely by the end of the point on a beautiful summers day (to the sound of Matt Monroe). I may yet use this. Possibly on a screen but also maybe in the window using some kind of two way screen/ cotton sheet? I need to work this out however. I like the idea of the window space looking as though its looking out at the ship passing by.... decisions decisions.

I decided to relay the sounds of the lighthouse into the gallery using an old stereo left in the studio by some previous residency artists who were here making there own boats before sailing off down the Lee Navigation. I dismantled one of the speakers and used the magnetic plate to attach it to the metal parabolic (wok) device. I will mount this back onto the tripod and connect the mobile phone via a audio jack into the stereo. Sounds captured into one dish and projected from another 180 miles away.



I suppose my goal is to create a small installation that looks and sounds (in some small part) like the inside of the lighthouse as it was when it was in use. Without spending a fortune and making the room round this is always going to be difficult but I think the different elements combined should prove to be at least esthetically interesting as well as the histories being intriguing to the viewer/ listener.

Ideas for One Week in Summer

An idea that I have been playing with, for the week long installation during the summer. A 3 mobile phone connected to a mic, housed in a water proof surround, powered by a cheep solar panel (matalan £30). At the other end of the point, another 3 mobile capable of connecting for free via Skype to the first phone, this phone being in the lighthouse and connected to amplifier and speakers.

Visitors to the lighthouse would be able to connect to the sounds being captured by the mirror and then amplified throughout the Lighthouse, from the top down live from the mirror.





I put together some of the sounds captured at Spurn using Audacity. The following sound piece is that combination plus the Morse and German translation of the last log entry (on repeat) The sounds from Spurn are a combination of the wind and wildlife at the mirror played firstly at the base of the lighthouse and then moving slowly up through the rooms which decrease in size whilst increasing in intensity.

Back at Spurn

I headed back to Spurn on the Monday morning and arrived at 10am. I was met by a beautiful blue summer haze, and the warden and his assistants were all outside "getting their bronze on" collecting entrance money and meeting with visitors. I had a quick chat with Andrew, who gave me the key to the light house and then I headed off to the sound mirror via the farm.



The fields had dramatically changed in colour and height, as you will see from the photos. The wind was down from last time and so I got busy recording. I spent a couple of hours sat out in the field. The helicopter passed by again on its way to the gas field platforms and I was photographed by a passing bird watcher. I could get used to this I thought...



Upon leaving I walked back along the tractor tyre marks through the centre of the field. Half way through and there was a sudden commotion 6 ft to my right. Something moved very quickly away from me. Far to big to be a rabbit or fox as it clattered through the crop with an alarming force, I was at first a little startled until I saw the head raise above the vegetation to show the small horns/ antlers of a dear. The dear bounded away from me showing its white tail as it now skipped across the yellow expanse and then disappeared as quickly as it had appeared..



I stopped to take photos but noticed the local police looking at my car. Due to the gas terminal near by, the police are always around and always armed and interested in strangers. I headed back packed up and went to the light house. The light house was covered in caterpillars (poisonous and furry even the birds will not eat them) The point has been infested with these tiny creatures for some years now. Once the sun arrives they come out and warm themselves on the light house brick work. This year there seems to be less than usual, but then we had a particularly deep winter.



I took a couple of passers by up to the top of the light house (from east of Grimsby, they look across the water to the Light house) and then began work recording sounds at the top of the tower. At the end of the day I headed to the B&B unloaded and recharged. I was working on a small publication that I am contributing towards when a policeman who had just finished his shift, walked into my bedroom. After a short discussion it became apparent I was in the wrong room, how embarrassing.... It pays to listen, as I had not when the landlady had told me room 4, not room 5.

I had dinner in the Crown and Anchor that evening. The windows of the bar look out over the Humbler. Nothing except water could be seen through the window. The late sun causing a hazy mirage as if he pub were floating far out on a lazy sea, no Spurn, no southern shore just calm, bright water and a silvery blue sky.



I woke the next day with a nasty head cold. I lumbered my way to the top of the lighthouse but the sun and heat were a little to much, so I packed up and went for a walk around the very end of the point. I photographed and filmed as I went.

I arrived back in London at 7pm that night feeling slightly kissed by the sun and rather under the contradictory weather.

Catching Up

During the 10 days back in London I worked on the sound files that Id brought back with me from Spurn Point and visited the Imperial War Museum.



(www.iwm.org.uk)

I also did quite a lot of research on Zeppelins & Sound Mirrors. I found that the first Zeppelin bomb (WWI) fell on the street adjacent to my street in London, I also found out that a close friends grandfather was blown up by such an attack on Southend. He was a small boy and was knocked unconscious by the explosion, when he came too he was lying in the pile of dead bodies which had been piled up by rescuers having thought he was one of the dead.

The research also drew my attention to an historical incident that I had only heard tell of from Spurn Point locals. "The King Stephen Incident".

Spurn Point Light House was built, primarily, to safeguard the fishing vessels that reside at Hull and Grimsby, now that the fishing industry is all but dead and satellite navigation is in the ascendancy the light house has been decommissioned (1986) and the main traffic past the point, is containers.

You can see into the Harbour at Grimsby on the opposite banks of the Humber from the Point. The King Stephen was a fishing vessel from Grimsby and during WWI it came across a downed Zeppelin after spotting their flares. The captain of the trawler refused to take the airman onto his boat and so abandoned them to their doom. The captain had reasoned that the twenty armed Germans would overpower his much smaller unarmed crew and make them sail for Germany. This whole story is complicated further by illegal fishing waters and the Zeppelin having just bombed civilian targets.



The nation was mostly in support of the captains decision even though it ran contrary to maritime codes of rescue, even the Bishop of London came out with a statement of support for the Captains decision, he however died a little over a year later from heart failure.

With the Mirror in place to spot such Zeppelin attacks and the Point/ military base/ Artillery Batteries having been attacked and flown over by other sister ships of the L.19 (LZ54), as well as the Light House being the guiding light home for the King Stephen I was quite taken with the idea of exploring this further.

Some further research disclosed that the captain of the Zeppelin had written his last log entry and placed it into a bottle which had later been found by a Swedish fishing boat six months later.

The entry reads:

"With fifteen men on the top platform and backbone girder of the L 19, floating without gondolas in approximately 3 degrees East longitude, I am attempting to send a last report. Engine trouble three times repeated, a light wind on the return journey delayed our return and, in the mist, carried us over Holland where I was received with heavy rifle fire; the ship became heavy and simultaneously three engines broke down. February 2, 1916, towards one o'clock, will apparently be our last hour."

The Morse looks like:

.-- .. - .... / ..-. .. ..-. - . . -. / -- . -. / --- -. / - .... . / - --- .--. / .--. .-.. .- - ..-. --- .-. -- / .- -. -.. / -... .- -.-. -.- -... --- -. . / --. .. .-. -.. . .-. / --- ..-. / - .... . / .-.. / .---- ----. --..-- / ..-. .-.. --- .- - .. -. --. / .-- .. - .... --- ..- - / --. --- -. -.. --- .-.. .- ... / .. -. / .- .--. .--. .-. --- -..- .. -- .- - . .-.. -.-- / ...-- / -.. . --. .-. . . ... / . .- ... - / .-.. --- -. --. .. - ..- -.. . --..-- / .. / .- -- / .- - - . -- .--. - .. -. --. / - --- / ... . -. -.. / .- / .-.. .- ... - / .-. . .--. --- .-. - .-.-.- / . -. --. .. -. . / - .-. --- ..- -... .-.. . / - .... .-. . . / - .. -- . ... / .-. . .--. . .- - . -.. --..-- / .- / .-.. .. --. .... - / .-- .. -. -.. / --- -. / - .... . / .-. . - ..- .-. -. / .--- --- ..- .-. -. . -.-- / -.. . .-.. .- -.-- . -.. / --- ..- .-. / .-. . - ..- .-. -. / .- -. -.. --..-- / .. -. / - .... . / -- .. ... - --..-- / -.-. .- .-. .-. .. . -.. / ..- ... / --- ...- . .-. / .... --- .-.. .-.. .- -. -.. / .-- .... . .-. . / .. / .-- .- ... / .-. . -.-. . .. ...- . -.. / .-- .. - .... / .... . .- ...- -.-- / .-. .. ..-. .-.. . / ..-. .. .-. . / - .... . / ... .... .. .--. / -... . -.-. .- -- . / .... . .- ...- -.-- / .- -. -.. / ... .. -- ..- .-.. - .- -. . --- ..- ... .-.. -.-- / - .... .-. . . / . -. --. .. -. . ... / -... .-. --- -.- . / -.. --- .-- -. .-.-.- / ..-. . -... .-. ..- .- .-. -.-- / ..--- --..-- / .---- ----. .---- -.... --..-- / - --- .-- .- .-. -.. ... / --- -. . / --- .----. -.-. .-.. --- -.-. -.- --..-- / .-- .. .-.. .-.. / .- .--. .--. .- .-. . -. - .-.. -.-- / -... . / --- ..- .-. / .-.. .- ... - / .... --- ..- .-. .-.-.-

The Point catches many bottles on the tide and having done sculptural work here using washed up bottles previously. While beach combing I too had found several containing messages. The Zeppelin captain had used the bottle because they had no wireless communication aboard the airship, even though this was over 25 years since Marconi's ship to shore experiment at Folkestone. What a difference a radio would have made.

I translated and recorded the log entry into Morse and also made a recording of it spoken in German for further sounds to experiment with. I have a German friend of a friend to thank for this.

I used an old film of a passing ferry at the end of the point and began playing. The remainder of the week was spent working on other projects, seeing family and spending time with my son.

A Cold Wind

I left the house at 6am, at 6.01am I realised that I had locked myself out and so had to wake my house mate who was already overtired and overworked and now underwhelmed, by my mistake.



I arrived in Hull at around 9.30am after a steady drive north trying to conserve petrol. I popped into B&Q picked up some batteries and gaffa tape then grabbed a coffee, jumped back in the car and finished the journey to the end of the Humber estuary and Spurn Point.



I could not see Andrew Gibsons (YWT Warden) car so headed along the temporary road to the end of the point for a quick reconnaissance. There has been a lot of work done since I was here last (one year ago). New gates, speed ramps and posts as well as the lighthouse having had new doors and windows.



I headed back down the point and bumped into Andrew coming the other way. After a brief chat (He was off to the light house to open up for a film shoot for a music video) I headed to the farm on whose land the mirror is positioned. I had a brief chat with the farmer and then headed over to the mirror itself. It doesn't do to upset the locals..













Up close and personal the mirror was huge and rather impressive. I quickly rigged up the equipment and began recording, but as is so often the case hear at Spurn, the weather changed, the wind picked up and the sun disappeared for the rest of the day. I had feared a strong wind, and that this might play hell with my cheep mic cover, it did.



I recorded for around an hour and got little or no noticeable readings from the mirror despite several different experiments with the positioning, hight and angle of the mic. I did pick up a passing helicopter and some bird song but no zeppelins today.

I went to the B&B at Westemere farm and signed in, unloaded, downloaded and then recharged myself and the lap top while the rain come down and the wind picked up. I woke at four to find the the sun had almost returned. I got in the car and headed for the end of the point to do some recordings in the empty and abandoned military buildings.



The useful thing about Spurn is that theres only one road, so if you need to find some one its pretty straight forward, and so I bumped into Andrew again. Andrew gave me the key to the lighthouse and explained he'd be away tomorrow. We agreed to catch up on my next visit in two weeks.



As with the morning the wind played hell with the sound quality, I did however find one very sheltered location and managed to pick up the engines of a pilot speed boat motoring out to sea to deposit another pilot onto an incoming vessel. After couple of hours I made my way back to the car, off the point and into the pub, for dinner.

Parabolic Testing

I got back to the studio early to test the now dried out and painted parabolic mic/ wok. It took me a while to remember what the wiring configuration was that allowed the mic to be recognised as a head set and therefor only record from the mic rather than the phone and mic or just phone. Once up and running I took all the equipment outside and placed the stand at the entrance to the studio.



As you can see from the following picture there was little going on in the street, except for a lorry at the bottom of the adjacent street unloading its contents onto the curb using a claw style bucket arm. Workmen were then using shovels to move this around and into place. The range of this was around 100m and the following recording was done straight onto the phone and therefor lacks a certain amount of clarity.

click HERE to HEAR.

Stu Stu Studio

I finished work and headed home with my suitcase, golf bag and a wok.

I had brought the wok with me as it was all rusted and past its usefulness as a cooking utensil, but not as a parabolic device.

I headed to the British library to read the books I had ordered on Sound Mirrors. Whilst walking back to my reading table I bumped into Will, an English lecturer (I believe) and friend of a friend that Id had dinner with on Sunday. The world is an increasingly small place, it would seem.

The books were helpful, in as much as they allowed me to see and read about the microphone systems used (primitive) and the process of acoustic ranging as it was developed, from the beginning (small shafts dug in the ground and piano wires) to the latterly vast 20m mirrors of Dungeoness. Funnels, stethoscopes and arrangements of rubber tubing were used to listen with, until early microphones were employed and this then brought the development of that particular instrument forward considerably in partnership with the mirrors. Mirrors were first made out of chalk faces (Kent), then wood and finally concrete.

The following day was spent in the studio building a home made parabolic mic stand and doing some experimentation with sound ranging. I will leave the pictures to do the talking, except to say that I may need to purchase a second mic that offers something a little different in case the current one is not up to the job

Adventures on the Central Line

I spent much of the day in the corner office on the 7th floor of City Point researching how to resolve my mic problem. How to power externally? It seemed, after much referencing that a battery powered pre amp would be the way to go. Maplins down the road didn't have one and the ones on the net were either too expensive or took too long to deliver and there were no second hand ones on ebay or gumtree.



I jumped on the tube at Liverpool st and went over to Tottenham court road. Theres a street full of music stores and related electrical suppliers just around the back of the station, not knowing this however I took the long way around, via Oxford street, then Soho, then to the street in question.

The guys in the shop were very helpful and let me run some tests on the pre amp. The phone recorded the shop assistance voice clearly via a the mic following some experimentation's with different wiring configurations, and it recognised the mic as a head set and so picked up calls automatically, a bonus. Our experiment drew admiring glances from some musicians who asked for a brief description of the project.



That night I ran some tests with a laptop and the pre amp while England played Ghana on the TV in the background. I downloaded a free software application called Audacity and I have to say I was delighted with the recording quality and pick up. I ended the day feeling as though I was edging closer to a full technological resolution for the project.

A Week Away

Having just arrived back in London from my first holiday in three years I ventured to the British Library to get my visitors pass and to request copies of "Echoes from the Sky: A Story of Acoustic Defence" and "Mirrors by the sea" by Richard Newton Scarth. I was informed I would have to wait 48 hours for them to be retrieved and delivered.


I spent part of this morning researching microphones and after speaking to several sources decided that I would be best off experimenting with a standard dynamic directional mic as this would require no external power source (wrong) and should allow me to record directly onto the laptop or ipod depending on sound quality. A shotgun mic would be next choice and would be an improvement in quality. A condenser mic would be very sensitive but would require external powering. But as with all tech stuff, increased quality = increased price. later in the day I had a walk down to Maplin on Liverpool st and had a look at the mics. I will pick one up next week and do some initial tests.

(Stock photo/ not me!)

Things I need to take to Spurn for the first two days testing/recording

1. step ladders
2. tape
3. 4ft 2/2 steak
5. tool box
6. powered up drill
7. camera
8. mic
9. laptop
10. all wires
11. amp + speakers
12. conical/ parabolic device to shroud microphone.


The last one is something I shall have to work on later next week, once I'm back in the studio. I don't want to do anything else until I have read the books as they may provide some clear guidance on the capturing methods and equipment used 100 years ago.

A Renewed Subscription & Interest

I was sat in the office in London with time to kill when I decided, rather belatedly,to renew my subscription to a-n magazine. I started by searching the opportunities for February and previous months when I came across the "Light House Relay" for Folkstone Triennial (fringe) It was the 27th of Feb and the deadline was the 28th. Luckily I had spent 6 months (this time last year) living and working as artist in residence for the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, using the light house as my studio.

Geography determines climate. Climate determines culture and therefor, in turn, effects history (perhaps?).

Spurn has been formed by the slow erosion of the Yorkshire coast line, As the sediment moves southward drawn by the currents, it is deposited at the mouth of the Humber when it meets the opposing current of the estuary and thus Spurn is slowly built from the deposits of thousands of years. Spurn shifts and moves however. The road on which I travelled up the point 15 years ago is now 200m out to sea. There has been one small break through and several (managed) wash overs in that small time, during which Spurn becomes an island and the school bus becomes a boat.

The Point is mentioned in the Viking Chronicles as well as having footnotes in early christian history. Spurn has been home to many things and many people, each leaving some small or large trace upon the ever shifting landscape and history of this place. Vikings, missionary's, saints, hermits, fisherman, shipwrecked sailor's, lifeboat men, soldiers, birdwatchers and artists have all inhabited this remote place. It has seen several lighthouses, a pub, a school, a military base, railway line as well as the different community's that have come and gone, and it is these layers of history that have kept me coming back.


"What is the city if not the people" (Napoleon Bonaparte)

Whilst the Lighthouse dominates the long low spit of sand, standing tall at the far end of Spurn, like the bridge of an oil tanker, it is the military history that has shaped Spurn or left its mark so noticeably during the last 100 years. Since the MOD left the concrete Tank blocks, machine gun nests, barracks, artillery emplacements, spot lights, stores workshops, rail tracks and jetty's are all slowly being reclaimed by sand & sea.

My work at Spurn is about discovering, unearthing or excavating these human/ natural histories and using them to inform and develop my own practice. Working with the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust and in particular the local warden Andrew Gibson to make work that enables people to discover, for themselves, some of these elements, to gather a little more knowledge from their experience of the point and to help the local community and the YWT maintain Spurn for the future, that and its just a great place to escape to and be.


After reading the brief several times I began to think about the military Acoustic Mirror at the other end from the Point (nr Kilnsea) and how I had failed to pay proper attention to this amazing object at anytime during the past 15 years of going to and from Spurn as both artist and tourist.



I submitted my proposal to bring the Mirror back to life by reattaching a microphone and recording equipment, only this time instead of just sitting waiting and listening for approaching Zeppelins I would relay the sounds to the lighthouse where visitors would be able to listen to the amplified signal as ships people and sheep passed by the 20ft high concrete land mark.



I emailed my proposal off and then crossed my fingers and went back to work on other things.

www.stevenallbutt.com
www.thistudios.com