“Acoustic Arts was originally established in 1990 as a community arts organisation aiming to promote outdoor learning and creative play and to improve access to music-making for people of all abilities.
Since that time, our team of musicians, artists and teachers has created award-winning musical installations and provided workshops for educational, arts and environmental organisations throughout the UK.”
I came across Acoustic Arts during my research of outdoor musical instruments. They fascilitate workshops for children with learning disabilities and/or sensory impaired. They install instuments in public spaces with the aim to fascillitate musical learning for those who rarely have access to it. They are the creators of the outdoor music garden at the Horniman Museum.
I chatted to John Walls, the founder of the organisation. He told me of his development of the project, starting with yoghurt pot trumpets to eventually building permanent installations. Recycled or renewable materials have always been a key element of the project. John told me he was awakened to the value of materials we often discard after a research trip to West Africa, where he witnessed trading markets for cardboard boxes and plastic cups, and met scavengers who made a living from what Western countries label as obsolete. This conversation is another reminder to me on the subjectivity of waste; when material is labelled as waste, it means it is only in the wrong place at the wrong time, and there needs to be better systems to recycle that material, turning it from waste into a valuable resource.
As part of the statements I want to make as an artist, I will try to recognise the materials I am using in a project and their personal histories. Second-hand materials are a great place to start, through which our money does not finance a network of events that can be collectively defined as harm to people and non-human entities.
John told me of a project they did a few years ago, where they simply left an xylophone with some beaters attatched on a public cycle path. The instrument stayed there for two months, and had queues up to it on Saturday nights, where members of the public were eager to play. I like this simple project that gives trust to a public. Whatever happens next is a statement, a voice, to express a desire. John is passionate about the durability of an installation, but I feel like I also want to prioritise an openness to interaction and even destruction of an installation. John also told me that a common structure of people’s interaction with an installation is first an expression of rage and noise. After they let out some steam then comes an opportunity to play song or rhythym, and work together. It is interesting and telling that people first want to make an aggressive statement. I am imagining these mediums not only as transformative to a social space, but also something that can sonify messages from that space.
And finally, use familair materials to make the instrument more inviting. The point is an invitation.