IWM DUXFORD MARKS ITS CENTENARY YEAR WITH DX17
2017 marks both The imperial War Museum and IWM Duxford's centenary. To commemorate this landmark Nick Ryan was commissioned to create a new artwork DX17 - an immersive sound sculpture and the first artwork ever to be commissioned by the historic site. DX17 acts as both a commemorative physical representation of human flight, flying and innovation and an interactive listening device which enables the people in Duxford’s past and present to transmit their memories directly to visitors in a palpable and emotional way. Visitors are given a special 'receiver' device that allows them to 'tune-in' and listen to audio signals encoded into 100 light beams scattered across DX17’s surface. Each light beam transmits the sound one of a hundred memories. The audio combines items from IWM’s sound collection, well-known songs and newly recorded and composed material.
DX17 was created in collaboration with mechatronic engineer Sean Malikides, interaction design practice, Kin Design and fabricator Tom Cecil and was opened on June 15th by HRH The Duke of Kent. It will be exhibited daily until the end of September.
The project is generously sponsored by:
'machine 9' space debris sound instrument for project adrift
'Machine 9' is a handcrafted electromechanical sound instrument that tracks the positions of 27,000 pieces of space junk, transforming them into sound, in real time, as they pass overhead. Read more about Adrift here
The 'Bombree' was an experimental instrument I created for the Tate Sensorium project as a means of translating David Bomberg's painting 'In the Hold' into audio.