Boy you turn me is a specially commissioned sound installation for the Birmingham Book Festival by contemporary classical composer Ailis Ni Riain and writer David Gaffney.
Situated in a vacant unit within Birmingham’s Pavilions shopping centre, it uses a unique structure of an inner and outer layer of sound to explore the feelings and thoughts of those who used to work in this retail space. The two layers of music and text can be heard separately or at the same time by moving inside and outside of the specially created space.
It consists of an original commissioned piece of music and text by composer Ailis Ni Riain and writer David Gaffney, and is based on interviews with people in Birmingham, the history of the Pavilions and the high street, and the experiences of the people who used to work in this former retail unit where the piece has been installed.
To construct the text of Boy you turn me, David used real words and comments from people he met in and around the Pavilions.
David says, “the last tenant of the unit was a company called The Natural World that sold crystals, jigsaws, plastic animals, fossils, sharks teeth - a little like a museum gift shop - and I have taken this as my theme for the story, making it a hymn to the ghost of a forgotten shop and a lament for the people who used to work there.“
Sara Beadle, of the Birmingham Book Festival commissioned the piece. “It is great to have such an innovative project as part of this year’s Birmingham Book Festival. One of the aims of the festival is to programme a diverse and imaginative range of events that are inclusive and embrace all art forms as a means of engagement with words. We are excited about the combination of music and word in this project and we hope this medium will introduce a whole new audience to the festival and to the world of contemporary classical composers.”
Boy you turn me is one single piece, a consistent whole, each of the two layers being always audible along with the other, as the sound from the inner space and the sounds from the outer space bleed into each other, like a yin and yang. This inner and outer structure for a musical composition has never been explored before.
This project needed to be situated in a very specific space to work on different levels of audience engagement. Lauren Davies, Project Manager said, “We are really pleased to be working with Pavilions as the venue partner for this project, it is an ideal location for a sound installation. The piece is using a unique structure of inner and outer layers of sound exploring two aspects of Birmingham – the public and the private, the image and the reality. The shopping area itself is at once a public space but the installation inside the shop unit is a hidden inner layer transformed by the artists for Birmingham Book Festival. We can’t wait to hear what people think when it opens in October.”
Claire Johnson, Marketing Manager of Pavilions Birmingham, said “Pavilions is delighted to support the local community and arts organisations and over the last few years have worked closely with local projects such as award-winning Birmingham Opera Company and a Pop Up Arts Shop with Moseley Arts Market. We believe that Pavilions can remain distinctive by supporting and showcasing the city’s vibrant arts scene and we are looking forward to welcoming Boy You Turn Me in October as part of Birmingham Book Festival”
The recording of the script was made possible through the generous assistance of staff and use of facilities at Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College.
Boy you turn me is supported by the National Lottery through Arts Council England, PRS for music foundation, Pavilions Birmingham, Joseph Chamberlain Sixth Form College and is commissioned in partnership with Birmingham Book Festival.
Open from 6th to 16th October 2011. To find out more visit Birminghambookfestival.org.
