sonic illuminations proposal- King's Cross lighthouse

here's the outline of the idea for the proposal;

Kerry Andrew and Harriet Poole Joint Application to Sonic Illuminations

overlooked
a helter-skelter history of the King’s Cross lighthouse

Most people, heads down as they fight their way across Gray’s Inn Road and Pentonville Road in the jostling heart of King’s Cross, won’t notice it: on top of a thin curved building sits a derelict lighthouse. Bizarrely out of place, it is a genuine mystery; there is no record of who put it there, when and why. Suggestions have included that it was erected by 19-century teahouse or oysterhouse owners who once plied their trade beneath, or that it was a clocktower, a camera obscura, or even a helter-skelter salvaged from a local funfair.

We propose to produce a 5-minute film/sound/performance event that explores both fictive and real histories of the lighthouse and its immediate area, using a mixture of historic and contemporary film and photography techniques, live and recorded vocal music and sound design. The piece would begin by introducing the lighthouse with interweaving stories, both from real suggestions and fantastical, invented ones. A middle section would turn to today: we would go to the site and interact with the transient community there, filming them, showing them the lighthouse and recording their thoughts on its purpose. We would also use traditional and digital pinhole images of contemporary King’s Cross in response to the camera obscura idea. Finally, we would film the development of the pinhole photographs, and as they swim in liquid, the contemporary ideas and stories would overlap, disperse, and transform into an sonic evocation of the sea. This project would be a development of our collective interests in storytelling and myth, social engagement and site-responsive work, combining vocal (spoken and sung, live and recorded) looping, playing on the musical qualities of speech, and potentially including a live art aspect. We would be keen to work with the Camden Historical Society in investigating the area and lighthouse further.