 The installation at Canary Wharf | |
| String instrument | |
|---|---|
| Classification | Chordophone |
| Inventor(s) | Luke Jerram |
| Developed | 21st century |
The Aeolus Acoustic Wind Pavilion is a musical installation artwork created by Luke Jerram. It is a large aeolian harp that was inspired by Jerram's time in Iran. The installation toured England from 2011 to 2012, appearing at Lyme Park, the Eden Project, MediaCityUK and Canary Wharf.
The pavilion was created by Luke Jerram, an artist from Bristol, with help from Tim Waters (University of Southampton), Ian Drumm (University of Salford) and the Arup Group. [1] [2] [3] [4] Funding was provided by Arts Council England (who provided £95,000), [5] the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and Outokumpu. [3]
The installation is named after Aeolus, the Ancient Greek ruler of the winds. [6] Jerram first conceptualized the installation in 2007 during a spell in Yazd, Iran. [7] [8] [9] While speaking with a well-digger working on a qanat, [10] the digger mentioned that the qanat would sometimes make sounds at times when there was wind. This inspired Jerram to create a piece of architecture that "would resonate and sing with the wind". [6]
Aeolus is an aeolian harp, a stringed instrument that produces music using the wind. [6] Nylon strings are stretched along the tubes, which amplify the strings' sounds. [11] [12] During times that there is no wind, tubes with no strings play low tones in the aeolian mode. [6] [13] [2] The sounds Aeolus produces have been likened to the minimalist music of Steve Reich. [12]
The installation's design takes cues from religious architecture, such as St. Peter's Basilica and the domes of mosques. [6] Jerram used 310 [2] [7] polished stainless steel tubes to create the piece. [8] The installation is 6 metres (20 ft) tall [9] and weighs around 10,000 kilograms (22,000 lb). [14] Each tube measures 2.5 metres (8 ft 2 in) in length. [5]
Aelous toured England from 2011 to 2012. The tour began at Lyme Park where it was in display from 6-20 August 2011. [1] [3] It then appeared at the Eden Project from 19 September to 9 October. [5] During its time at the Eden Project, an exhibition showcasing Aeolus' creation took place at the Royal West of England Academy. [5] The installation then displayed at MediaCityUK from 22 October [15] [14] before finishing with a spell at Canada Square Park in Canary Wharf, London from 27 March to 10 May 2012. [2] [10] [16]
In musical instrument classification, string instruments or chordophones, are musical instruments that produce sound from vibrating strings when a performer plays or sounds the strings in some manner.
Canary Wharf is an area of London, England, located near the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Canary Wharf is defined by the Greater London Authority as being part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside the City of London, it constitutes one of the main financial centres in the United Kingdom and the world, containing many high-rise buildings including the third-tallest in the UK, One Canada Square, which opened on 26 August 1991.
One Canada Square is a skyscraper in Canary Wharf, London. It is the third tallest building in the United Kingdom at 770 feet (235 m) above ground level, and contains 50 storeys. It achieved the title of the tallest building in the UK upon completion in 1991 and held the title for 21 years until the completion of The Shard (310m) in 2012.
An Aeolian harp is a musical instrument that is played by the wind. Named after Aeolus, the ancient Greek god of the wind, the traditional Aeolian harp is essentially a wooden box including a sounding board, with strings stretched lengthwise across two bridges. It is often placed in a slightly opened window where the wind can blow across the strings to produce sounds. The strings can be made of different materials and all be tuned to the same pitch, or identical strings can be tuned to different pitches. Besides being the only string instrument played solely by the wind, the Aeolian harp is also the only string instrument that plays solely harmonic frequencies. They are recognizable by the sound which is a result of this property, which has been described as eerie and ethereal.
Canary Wharf is a London Underground station at Canary Wharf and is on the Jubilee line, between Canada Water and North Greenwich stations. The station is located in Travelcard Zone 2 and was opened on 17 September 1999 as part of the Jubilee Line Extension. Over 40 million people pass through the station each year, making it second busiest on the London Underground outside Central London after Stratford, and also the busiest that serves only a single line.
8 Canada Square is a 45 floor skyscraper in Canary Wharf, London. The building is the global headquarters of the HSBC Holdings.
Canary Wharf is an Elizabeth line station in Canary Wharf in East London, England. The station forms an artificial island in the West India Docks. The five upper levels of the station are a mixed-use development known as Crossrail Place. It is on the Abbey Wood branch of the Elizabeth line between Whitechapel and Custom House. Construction began in May 2009, and the station opened on 24 May 2022 when the section between Paddington and Abbey Wood stations began services. During the project's development the station was named Isle of Dogs, before the current name was adopted. The station was developed under a fixed price contract of £500 million with £350 million provided from the Crossrail budget and £150 million from the Canary Wharf Group with Crossrail spending an additional £80 million on safety improvements before it was opened.
Aeolis, or Aeolia, was an area that comprised the west and northwestern region of Asia Minor, mostly along the coast, and also several offshore islands, where the Aeolian Greek city-states were located. Aeolis incorporated the southern parts of Mysia, and is bounded by it to the north, Ionia to the south, and Lydia to the east.
Sound art is an artistic activity in which sound is utilized as a primary medium or material. Like many genres of contemporary art, sound art may be interdisciplinary in nature, or be used in hybrid forms. According to Brandon LaBelle, sound art as a practice "harnesses, describes, analyzes, performs, and interrogates the condition of sound and the process by which it operates."
USS Aeolus (ARC-3) began service as USS Turandot (AKA-47), an Artemis-class attack cargo ship built by the Walsh-Kaiser Co., Inc. of Providence, Rhode Island. In 1954 she was converted into a cable repair ship to support Project Caesar, the unclassified name for installation of the Sound Surveillance System SOSUS. Aeolus was the first of two ships, the other being USS Thor (ARC-4), to be converted into cable ships. Aeolus performed cable duties for nearly thirty years, from 1955 to 1973 as a commissioned ship and from 1973 until 1985 as the civilian crewed USNS Aeolus (T-ARC-3) of the Military Sealift Command (MSC). The ship was retired in 1985 and sunk as an artificial reef in 1988.
The Singing Ringing Tree is a wind powered sound sculpture resembling a tree set in the landscape of the Pennine hill range overlooking Burnley, in Lancashire, England.
Cecil Balmond OBE is a British Sri Lankan designer, artist, and writer. In 1968, Balmond joined Ove Arup & Partners, leading him to become deputy chairman. In 2000, he founded design and research group, the AGU . He currently holds the Paul Philippe Cret Chair at PennDesign as Professor of Architecture where he is also the founding director of the Non Linear Systems Organization, a material and structural research unit. He has also been Kenzo Tange Visiting Design Critic at Harvard Graduate School of Architecture (2000), Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor at Yale University School of Architecture (1997-2002) and visiting fellow at London School of Economics Urban Cities Programme (2002-2004).
A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitch of the vibration is determined by the length of the tube and by manual modifications of the effective length of the vibrating column of air. In the case of some wind instruments, sound is produced by blowing through a reed; others require buzzing into a metal mouthpiece, while yet others require the player to blow into a hole at an edge, which splits the air column and creates the sound.
Traffic Light Tree is a public sculpture in between Poplar and Blackwall, London, England, created by the French sculptor Pierre Vivant following a competition run by the Public Art Commissions Agency for the London Docklands Development Corporation under their Public Art programme. Originally situated on a roundabout in Limehouse, near Canary Wharf and Millwall, at the junction of Heron Quay, Marsh Wall and Westferry Road, it is now located on a different roundabout near Billingsgate Market in Poplar.
Charles William George Hadcock is a British sculptor known for his monumental sculptures that incorporate elements of geology, engineering, and mathematics. Hadcock's work also draws inspiration from music, philosophy, and poetry. He is a Deputy Lieutenant of Lancashire.
Luke Jerram is a British installation artist. He creates sculptures, and large artwork installations, and live arts projects.
The Great Storm of 1824 was a hurricane force wind and storm surge that affected the south coast of England from 22 November 1824. Nearly 100 people were believed to be killed.
Alexander Beleschenko is a British artist working in glass who creates architectural glass installations.
Died in the Wool – Manafon Variations is a remix album by English singer and musician David Sylvian, released in May 2011 by Sylvian's independent label Samadhi Sound. The album features six songs from Sylvian's 2009 album Manafon, which have been remixed by Dai Fujikura. The new songs are heavily influenced by Fujikura, who conducted, arranged and composed the prevalent strings sections. "I Should Not Dare" and "A Certain Slant of Light" are poems by Emily Dickinson, set to music and sung by Sylvian.
| Installations | |
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| Sculptures | |
