Singer and performance maker Catherine Carter uses her voice to explore some of the scientific and natural processes used to create the objects and materials within Christina Mackie’s the filters, the  Duveen’s commission at Tate Britain (24 March – 18 October 2015).

This Sonic Trail includes stories both real and imagined created by Catherine from her personal response to the commission and the imagery it conjures up for her.

The Trail was recorded live in the Duveen Galleries, and plays with the acoustics of the space.

PART A: Nets

Move around this part of the commission while listening to the tracks. As you look up into the hanging nets, notice if the light changes and how this affects your experience of the commission.

Shuttle

This track is inspired by the songs sung by fishermen and net weavers while they work. The lyrics and musical phrase are copied exactly from the speech patterns of a resident of Bowen Island Maryland talking about making crab nets. 
The vocals cross over and echo one another, giving a sense of the repetition involved in the weaving of nets, suggestive of the way techniques like this are handed down across centuries, cultures and contexts.

Shoals of Herring

Similarly, this track is inspired by a fishing song, this time a Scottish one. Here Catherine also copied the speech patterns and vocal qualities of a recording of this song by Scottish Fishermen that was made in the 1960's. 
When experiencing this track, you might imagine you are underwater like the herrings Catherine is singing about.

PART B: A History of Glass
[Soda Lime Glass, Fulgurite, Libyan Desert Glass, Obsidian Nodules, Moldavite, Glassy Faience] 
Each of these 6 tracks is a ‘singing’ of batch recipes – of how different types of glass are made. The lyrics include chemical equations, and are vocal responses to pictures of the molecules that go into making glass – ranging from the most simple (which occur naturally) to the most complex, formed from numerous scientific elements.

Each piece of glass is introduced by Catherine at the cylindrical vitrine in the North Duveen- with a vocal response recorded at different points within that space - depending on the age of the glass.

Try imagining the glass chunks as Catherine did when recording the Trail - appearing in the gallery space like planets in a solar system. As you listen watch the people moving through the space - Catherine was interested in the way 'the filters' animates the space and is brought to life by the people who walk through it.

'Sonic Trail for The Filters' by Catherine Carter

Made in response to Christina Mackie's 2015 commission for the Duveens at Tate Britain.

06 Glassy Faience

05 Moldavite

04 Obsidian Nodules

03 Lybian Desert Glass

02 Fulgurite

Our Sonic Trails are pieces of sound art, they let you listen to recordings and compositions created by artists. Some allow you to experience somewhere entirely different to your surroundings, like the clicks and songs of whales and other under water animals while you’re walking through the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern or a choir singing in the Duveen galleries at Tate Britain. Some allow you to imagine the process that went into making a sculpture and some uncover hidden sounds which can normally only be heard at night. 