A Collective Memory of Childhood Launch Event

Please join us for the launch event on 28 July 2012, 2 til 5 PM, at Furtherfield Gallery.

Artist and composer Michael Szpakowski has worked with local children and their families to create a generative sound sculpture that invokes the collective memory of childhood, drawing on the memories of Haringey residents from all over the world.

Through a series of celebratory events at Coleridge Primary School and in Furtherfield Gallery, Michael gathered field recordings of children’s' rhymes: playground, skipping, clapping and those of other games from three generations of local residents, in every language that is spoken locally. These are mixed with fragments of a magical and gentle Summer music that he will compose to fit with the sounds of the park - working with modal and pentatonic scales and scoring for bells, flutes, harps and singing bowls.

The resulting immersive soundscape, with fragments of children’s rhymes spoken by many generations changes constantly and kaleidoscopically, drawing on the texts and music in endless variations will be audible during opening hours in the area around the gallery and spill over into the adventure playground from July to September 2011.

The project is part of PARK ART... in Haringey - an alternative, multi-venue sculpture park for the London Borough of Haringey, produced by UP Projects in partnership with Haringey Council and supported by Arts Council England.

About the Artis:

Michael Szpakowski is an artist, composer and film-maker who devises and facilitates many of our Outreach projects with young people. Participants create films, games and performances that explore the tools and processes of co-co-creation in a digitally connected world. The work engages young people, meeting them where they are in a constructive, imaginative and inclusive way. With DVcam in hand he finds poetry in the everyday, music in a London pavement and if called upon could find a way to inspire the imaginations of curbstones with his enthusiasm, experience and skill-sharing abilities.
http://www.somedancersandmusicians.com/