‘I could have sat for hours hypnotised by the final crystal chord of the spinning oscillators’ Live Art Magazine

Siren is a spectacular performance piece that takes place within an installation of large sound sculptures; metal tripods with rotating arms that emit electronic drones. Two performers move with the mass of swirling metal, tuning the drones to create a hypnotic composition and controlling the machinery to create a stunning audio visual spectacle.Siren is a true synthesis of different
artistic traditions.

The work can be equally at home as part of contemporary music events, live art, visual theatre, and contemporary visual art. It fuses elements of kinetic art, electronic music and live art performance in a theatrical context. Originally developed as an installation in a former US Air Force base in North
Oxfordshire ‘Siren’ has gone on to become a major international ‘hit’, touring around the world to widespread critical and audience acclaim.At its sold out performances in the Edinburgh Fringe 2007, ‘Siren’ attracted 5* reviews and was awarded a Herald Angel award. Since then the work has been toured to over 12 countries including the USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and all over Europe, where it has been presented at major arts festivals in partnership with the British Council.The performances last 45 minutes and
performances can be repeated a number of times during a day / evening slot. Audience capacity per performance depends largely on the venue but can be up to 300 per performance in larger spaces.

“a choir of rotating sirens, their individually strident voices congealing into a thick mutating chord that transfixed listeners in its sticky flux.” David Toop, The Wire

the sound world of siren:

This ‘choir of rotating sirens’ creates an audio visual spectacle that is essentially a live experience. Wherever you stand in the space it sounds different. As the arms rotate, the sound pulses past the listener with a Doppler-like effect, while the cluster of closely tuned oscillators creates a rich and pervasive sound world. A minimalist phasing of the rhythmic pulses emerges as the varying speeds of rotation of the arms makes the pulsing tones phase against each other in a constantly evolving polyrhythmic structure. The closeness of the tuning of the separate tones sets off a series of amazing overtones that evoke the sense of an ethereal choir.
background:

Siren was first performed in Hanger 3022 of Upper Heyford Airbase in October 2004 (see below for a description of the event). It toured to Utrecht in May 2005 where it was performed in a disused Courthouse building and was one of the highlights of the Festival a/d Werf. Previous versions have been performed at the Museum of Modern Art, Oxford, in a disused textile mill in Derbyshire and in the Bonington Gallery, Nottingham.

types of presentation and performance:

Siren can be presented in a number of different ways depending on the context or circumstances of the festival or venue. It functions as a performance of approximately 30-40 minutes which can be repeated a number of times during a day / evening and it can also function as a longer installation performance where the work will be active for approximately two hours at a time and the audience can come and go as they wish during this period.

siren at Hanger 3022, Upper Heyford Airbase, Oxford Contemporary Music October 2004:

For the audience this was an experience outside of the normal conventions of attending an art gallery, theatre or concert. Once through the razor-wired checkpoint, the audience faced a two-mile drive into the heart of this bleak and desolate ex-cold war territory. The airfield, once home to a fleet of US jet bombers, now lies half empty, the fifty or more huge, curved, bomb-proof concrete hangers providing a haunting reminder of the site’s history.

“The work was called ‘Siren’ because I made thirty spinning sirens that rotate, emitting pulsing electronic tones. I liked the sense of danger that the word conveys, together with the idea of the siren call, luring people towards it. In Hanger 3022, the sirens had inevitable echoes of the site’s history, but for me the work had an elegiac quality. The sound of my sirens is more like an ethereal choir rather than the warning air raid tones you expect from the word siren.” Ray Lee

Siren is a sound art project by Ray Lee.

contact details:

Simon Chatterton
+44(0)1865 767830 +44(0)7949 783174
simon@simonchatterton.co.uk

Shotover Edge Cottage, Old Road
Headington, Oxford OX3 8TA

Ray Lee
ray@invisible-forces.com