A two-month, deep-listening sound installation by Phil Coy
12 noon – 5pm Fridays & Weekends
Launch Saturday 3rd May, 4 - 6pm: All welcome, refreshments served
sixty beats per minute turns St George’s Church in Ramsgate into a musical instrument and time machine.
Microphones relay the Church's steam-age turret clock live into the main nave of the Church, where the sound is tuned to the inherent resonant frequency of the building.
An array of microphones amplify the 1829 Vulliamy Turret Pendulum Clock to form a multi-channel surround-sound installation inside the church. The work performs a temporary reversal of time, creating a feedback loop that focuses these technologies back on themselves. Matching the tempo of our heart at rest, the clock’s rhythm is known to raise consciousness and stimulate meditation. Specifically tuned to the resonant frequency of the architecture, sixty beats per minute creates a deep listening experience where audiences can reflect on the physical nature of time.
St George’s Church is a prominent feature of the Ramsgate skyline, thanks to its architecturally unique tower that acts as both mechanical Turret Clock, displaying the time to viewpoints across Ramsgate, and as a Lantern Tower, built to aid navigation in the English Channel. When constructed, these technologies signified a fundamental change in the world’s consumption of time. Populations were no longer attuned to the rhythms of the sun and the seasons, but instead forced to keep pace with time dealt by a mechanical clock. In the 200 years since the introduction of clock towers, our relationship to time is ever more sequenced, reaching fever pitch in the always-on world of global surveillance capitalism.
An intrinsic element to sixty beats per minute is the live 24/7 relay of the 1829 Vulliamy turret clock – a unique working example of the celebrated horologist’s technological skill with a rich mechanical sound. For users in search of authentic analogue rhythm, this live audio stream offers an ambient aid to mediation in an angst-ridden world.
STREAM LIVE 24/7 – the sound of an 1829 steam-age turret clock offers a reassuring analogue fidelity in a mercurial digital age...
Closing performance Sunday 29th June: Phil Coy invites local music producer and UK dub legend Adrian Sherwood and friends to hijack sixty beats per minute. They'll perform a new composition and live dub remix that breaks down the mechanics of the clock's regimented beat (2 - 4pm).
sixty beats per minute has been commissioned and organised by Art and Christianity and St George’s Ramsgate.
Free
