“Dawn Chorus” is a work by Marcus Coates. It was a multi-screen video installation, and man, I wish I could have seen it in action. According to a writer on the UK’s picture-this.org,
“During rigorous fieldwork 14 microphones were placed around woodland to record birds during one morning of birdsong in Northumberland. From this multi-track recording each song was slowed down up to 16 times, then human participants were filmed mimicking this slowed down song. Finally the resulting video footage was then speeded up, returning the bird mimicry into its ‘real’ register. The films are presented on screens in the gallery relative to the position of the birds when they were recorded.”
The method behind this work is very interesting to me. Coates went though a lot of work to get these birdsongs in the first place. I’m a fan of acquiring samples in their natural habitat rather than reproducing them or using mass produced sound effects. So, that’s cool. The part that kind of confuses me is the translation. When Coates approached people, what did he say? “Would you like to try to mimic bird sounds that have been slowed down sixteen times?” Surprisingly, watching the video sped up to the original sound file speed is somewhat convincing. The humans moved their heads and bodies in a similar manner that one might expect to see with a bird. It was a bit awkward watching humans breathe at the same speed a bird might, but maybe that just adds even more allure to the piece. Good job Marcus.
Source here
