2017
Benthic Caress was a one hour participatory project which brought 100 people into the tidal pool at Devil’s Point in Plymouth, to listen to ecoacoustic recordings of marine life using silent disco technologies. The invited contributors were Chris Watson, Leah Barclay, and Jez Riley French, and contributions were also selected from SW artists Ivon Oates, David Rogers, Rachael Allain, Andrea V Wright, Moore & Parker, and Lee Berwick. Finally, a playful contribution was made by the SW trio Wildlife Discotheque, who often work with museums and other cultural institutions sharing their vinyl wildlife recordings. Although I have created many sonic works myself, for Benthic Caress I wanted to curate an experience using the works of others. The main reason for this was to open up the participatory aspect of the project, for artists as well as for listeners.
Laura Denning 