Tag Archives: Earthquake

Dress Rehearsal

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Dress Rehearsal

It’s a daunting day dress rehearsal day, but we were prepared for what we were going to encounter. Once again we decided that we should go first so we met up steep hill and set out on our route listening to our audio, I was already slightly apprehensive as I still felt that when editing the audio the build up still wasn’t there enough, however once again we felt it necessary for that outside perspective to relay what we had been saying. I particularly wanted to see if Rachel would pick up on the additional sounds which had been added, I felt they made the piece a lot more realistic as their were parts which almost felt that people were right next to you where as other parts sounded in the distance.

Once Rachel had listened to it once again we met up to discuss her ideas, we were to rerecord the beginning and ending so as to make them sound smoother, as well as to make sure the pronunciation of ‘Derby’ was correct. We were also told to have a silence between the explanation at the start and then when the rest of the audio comes in, rather than creating a transition between them as a paused gives people time to think and digest what they believe to be going on. We thought it would also be best to do this at the end with the letter as well so that it gave our audience a slight pause before they heard the letter and were told what they had just listened to. Rachel found once again that she was waiting at the Cathedral for what she felt was too long and therefore gave us a couple of ideas, whether we would make the route bigger in some way or shorten the audio ever so slightly so that it would equal out when then put together.

We grouped back together and started to discuss the best way to go about our feedback. Sitting down and listening once again I found between 3 and 6 minutes not a lot happened and so it would probably be best just to take that chunk out, I looked into the idea of what Rachel had recommended about walking around Castle Square as well which I thought would work really well as it shows the area in which was destroyed due to the Earthquake and also places which linked into our audio and sound. I feel now we really need to go back and take each 30 seconds listening deeply if they build up in there own way.

I love Lincoln Library

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Trying to find solid evidence of an earthquake which occurred in 1185 is not the easiest task which I have ever taken on, however it is one of the more interesting. After deciding to venture into Lincoln’s library to see what it had to offer we were approached by a Librarian who asked us what we were looking for, in this question truly started our mission.

Three librarians helped in the search for information for the 1185 earthquake as well as other earthquakes and natural disasters which may have helped our search. We soon found out about the fires, and numerous earthquakes yet none to the magnitude of the one in 1185.

I was most interested when we were given numerous letters stapled together from the 6th of December 1985 (Gates S, 1985) , a woman was wanting to know more about the earthquakes which had occurred in Lincoln, within this a Dr J. A. Galletly wrote that he had found from a date book which he had that there had been earthquakes in 1038, 1142 and 1185 (Galletly J.A, 1985). Using this knowledge I needed to know about said date book and the information in which it held. The librarian then went on a search and came back with a red date book warning us to be careful and to return it straight after use as it would have to be locked away again. The date book noted:

1185

“An earthquake which overthrew a Church and did considerable damage to the Cathedral, of which Benedict, the Abbot of Peterborough says, the like had not been heard in England: – That the rocks were rent, and the Cathedral Church of Lincoln was cleft from top to bottom ….” (The Date Book, 31)

We were also given newspaper cuttings from later years explaining the extent of earthquakes and the harm that it can do to wildlife, especially birds. Something else that did come of interest was a report that was announced which recalled any diaries, journals or personal media in any way, or any parish records etc which may shed a light on the 15 April 1185 earthquake. This allowed us to see that still even Lincoln council are issuing recalls for any information which could help them into their research of this event, of which the magnitude in England has been unheard of since.

The Date Book, R.E. Leary.

Galletly, J. A. (1985) Earthquakes in Lincoln. [letter] Sent to S Gates, 19 December. Lincoln: [Accessed 23 March 2015].

 

Janet Cardiff

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After returning to Site with the onset of showing Conan some of the work our group had been preparing, I unfortunately had to take a back seat to listen about the change in ideas that we had been thinking about.

With the ideas of the 1185 earthquake still prominent in our piece I have been researching the basis behind an earthquake, the basic movements and vibrations which must occur for this natural disaster to occur. However I was also intrigued to research a certain artist Janet Cardiff who is known specifically for her work with sound and sound installations.

I have specifically looked at an audio walk formed by Cardiff and Miller named Jena Walk (Memory Field). The basis behind this idea was the audience would listen to an audio piece which would include sound effects from battle scenes as well as excerpts from Louise Seidler’s Diary. Cardiff wanted to use a specific landscape where the Prussians and Napolean battle had taken place 200 years before, this landscape was also a place where Russian tanks did Military exercises and one where Louise Seidler; the painter of Goethe from Jena may have walked. Cardiff took the basis of these historical events to make an audio piece about time and memory, and how one site can hold so many memories yet so many make new memories their every day.  Throughout the audio piece one century slips to another and as the listener walks they begin to become aware of each step they are taking, of where they are, of the site they are walking on just as those have for the last 200 years and the stories from those last 200 years begin to mix. The excerpts from Seidler’s diary are cleverly used as …” a narrative that deal with the physicality of memory”. Cardiff, J. Miller, B.G. (2006)

Our own piece is about an earthquake in 1185 which destroyed the Cathedral, our idea for the audio is to almost relive this with the sound of what could be the rumbles that the earthquake would have made (our own interpretation) and the crashes and movements from buildings around them, until the end at the Cathedral with a newspaper headline read out about the fall of the Cathedral. However could we use inspiration from Cardiff’s work, could we use extracts throughout the piece to vocalise what happened rather than allow our listener to decide everything? Would it be better this way to get the audience thinking about if such a tragedy happened now?

Cardiff, J. Miller, B.G. (2006) JENA WALK ( MEMORY FILED). [online] Available from: http://www.cardiffmiller.com/artworks/walks/jena.html [ Accessed 22 March 2015].