In response to the question “What’s happening, exactly?” posed by Folkestone Fringe, and as part of the MagiC Carpets platform, Pent Happenings comprises a series of audio-visual artworks, workshops and events drawing on field studies, geo-scientific data and research concerning Folkestone’s Pent stream and its environs.
A virtual wind chime, created in Pure Data (Pd), reacts to real-time Met Office data. Wind speed and wind direction data is used to trigger a pentatonic scale of synthetic bell-like sounds. An automated text-to-speech recitation of the corresponding weather conditions is sounded at regular intervals, using descriptions from the Beaufort scale.
White Horse (2020-01-31T23:00 / 2020-02-01T11:00) documents the moment that the UK left the EU at 11pm on 31st January 2020, and the morning after at 11am on 1st February. The field recordings, each lasting approximately 11 minutes, were made from the vantage point of the Folkestone White Horse hill figure, overlooking the terminal of the Channel Tunnel that connects the UK to mainland Europe.
Live sea wave data streamed from a marine observation buoy is transformed into a continuous electronic soundscape. Using the Pure Data (Pd) programming platform, the various sea and wave measurements are used to shape and control the different parameters of sound.
Created in collaboration with eco-poet Chris Poundwhite, Green Language offers a unique perspective on the ever-present Folkestone Downs. Through a blend of transportive soundscapes and poetry, we explore its rich ecosystem and consider our relationship to this integral part of the local landscape.
Starling Broadcast is an electroacoustic work combining sampled bird song with digital synthesis and improvised manipulation. The source field recordings, capturing the sound of a starling roost beneath Folkestone Harbour’s 1930s swing bridge, were made over three subsequent dusk evenings in late November 2018.