WOMAD

The Megaphone Project

From Australia

The sight of 25 brilliant red megaphones, of curiously different shapes and sizes spaced randomly through an open park, proves irresistible; children of all ages, from 18 months to 80 years, feel compelled to purse their lips and make a sound, then cock their ears to hear the effect, to see just how these curious contraptions work. This is exactly the type of participation that was expected when Madeleine Flynn and Tim Humphrey created The Megaphone Project during 2006, as an original outdoor artistic presentation combining the work of sound artists and choreographers for the FINA World Swimming Championships Cultural Festival in Melbourne, supported by ArtPlay. Recalling the childhood thrill of operating tin can telephones, the megaphones manipulate voices that are naturally reinforced through acoustics, then mysteriously and ambiguously returned via a custom-designed wireless audio network manipulated by attendants Sally Smith, David Wells and Jesse Stevens. Every participant in the field of megaphones therefore becomes part of a grand sonic texture, discovering amplifications of their own voices and others, prompting them to leave instructions, exhortations and loving messages. To date, more than 30,000 people have enjoyed playing in this lively world that intersects private and public broadcasting.

http://www.themegaphoneproject.com