Sound Art and Noisy Hand Dryers Get Equal Hearing at BE OPEN's Sounding Space Symposium at Chelsea College of Art

The Portal is a state-of-the-art, ambisonic space, devised by BE OPEN, Arup and the London Design Festival. UAL students have had an opportunity to explore it in three quite different ways, with the results of their work being played in the Portal during the Symposium. Pieces ranged from fictional conversation, to the sounds of microphones being dragged along the floor, to rhythmic drumming and singing.  

The work produced during the Sound Portal residency encouraged both artistic exploration and a deeper look at the impact of noise on our cities.  This theme was picked up by the Keynote speakers, pioneering US sound artist, Bill Fontana and Dr John Levack Drever, Head of the Unit for Sound Practice Research, at Goldsmiths, University of London. While Fontana presented an uplifting selection of work made over the last 30 years, Drever revealed details of his current area of research: the impact of noisy, high-speed hand dryers in public toilets: decibel levels can reach the equivalent of a DIY hand drill, which creates a real threat to hearing.  

Gennady Terebkov, Director of BE OPEN, spoke at the Symposium about BE OPEN's commitment to supporting students and colleges: "Our collaboration with UAL has given us the opportunity to launch an extensive educational program called BE OPEN Inside the Academy, a way to support young creatives and schools through the development of a ranking system for creative institutes, a scheme to encourage multidisciplinary interaction and the BE OPEN Young Talent Award for emerging designers. BE OPEN and UAL share a common vision about supporting the next generation and we look forward to watching the students who have participated in the Sound Portal workshops becoming the great, creative minds of the future."

The BE OPEN Sound Portal program and Sounding Space Symposium bring the Foundation's sensory year to a close and a new theme will be launched for 2013. This will be the interaction between the North, South, East and West in terms of culture and the different, creative approaches to dealing with critical urban issues of our time.

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