The Radical Listening Immersive Media Trail
Aesthetica Film Festival is putting three major new works of media art into the centre of York this November – including an installation the height of York Theatre Royal, 20 three-metre towers in King’s Square and a new immersive work from one of the world’s leading light and sound collectives. From 4–8 November, Steve Messam, Being Now Here and Squidsoup take over three of York’s most prominent public spaces as part of Radical Listening, Aesthetica’s major new programme with Audible. The works are free to experience. No ticket, gallery admission or specialist knowledge is required. The work is simply here, in the city. This is Aesthetica’s love letter to York: bringing major international media art into the places where people live, work and visit, and making it available to everyone. The trail runs from Exhibition Square, York Theatre Royal, to King’s Square, supported by Audible UK, free to all.
Meet the Artists
Squidsoup | The Sound of Coming Back to Life
Exhibition Square, YO1 7EW
Discover a brand new work by acclaimed light, sound and technology pioneers Squidsoup (Alexandra Palace, Burning Man Festival, Canary Wharf, Sydney Opera House, Vivid Sydney). The Sound of Coming Back to Life combines a recording made using processed electric upright bass with a new generative visual landscape.The result is a visceral and immersive experience for audiences to encounter outside York Art Gallery.
Artist and musician Rowe suffered a cardiac arrest last year, remaining unresponsive with no heartbeat for several minutes – effectively dead – until he was resuscitated. He remembers nothing of dying, but has a vivid and clear recollection of returning to consciousness. He captures this experience in this recording, made a few weeks after the event.
Discover the Artist
Steve Messam | Fruere Silentio
York Theatre Royal, YO1 7HD
Fruere Silentio is a large-scale temporary inflatable art installation by renowned environmental artist Steve Messam, whose works are characterised by their vibrant use of colour, form and impressive scale, often described as “bigger than a house.”
The modular structure creates a number of secluded spaces, within which discrete speakers can be heard at close range. The soundscape is a four-minute multi-part vocal score to be experienced on visitors’ own Bluetooth headphones. The audio is “a document of the city”: sung and recorded in each of the 20 remaining medieval church buildings within York’s city walls, plus the Minster.
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Being Now Here | Henge: Echoes Through Time
King's Square, YO1 8BH
Being Now Here is the brandchild of Gemma Wood, established as a space for collaboration and the creation of impactful work for festivals and exhibitions. Wood specialises in immersive environments, sculptures and interactive installations – all designed to get audiences thinking and pondering the bigger questions.
Henge invites us to “experience listening as a shift in perspective” – painting a picture through sound, revealing echoes of memory and connection. Conceived as “a cinematic journey through time”, the installation evokes different periods and experiences: from the rhythms of the cityscape and nature, to traces of human presence.
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