Anachrosonic (2014)
Sound installation. Four speakers and four MP3 players.
I recently installed a subtle public sound sculpture, Anachrosonic, which memorialised the bandstand that once attracted crowds to St Ann’s Well Gardens in Brighton, while highlighting the absurdity of anachronisms. A lone palm tree replaced the bandstand. The palm tree, on its own, has a sorry but charming Englishness to it, with its hint of a tropical paradise in the English suburbs, but also, perhaps, speaks tellingly of the likely limitations of the Council’s budget. The bandstand represented the national pride, grandeur and self-confidence of nineteenth century Great Britain with her Empire and dominant position in the world. Now the bandstand has gone and the incongruous tree which replaced it seems emblematic of the nation’s unclear global role in the twenty-first century.
The sound that was emitted from speakers around the space was that of applause which occurred every three and a half minutes, inviting the park-goer to consider the identity of the site in the past and present.