Digital Womens Network

12 January 2007: An ambitious human recreation of the dawn chorus will be at BALTIC Centre for
Contemporary Art, Gateshead from 14 February until 18 March 2007

Dawn Chorus, by artist Marcus Coates, uses unique digital methods to explore the
relationship between birdsong and the human voice, drawing out previously unexplored similarities between the behaviour of birds and humans.

Dawn Chorus comprises films of 19 singers that uncannily recreate birdsong in their ‘natural
habitats’. The individuals are located in various situations such as an underground car-park, an
osteopathic clinic and a bath-tub, the project is as much a portrait of British idiosyncrasies as it is of the natural world. The films are hung on screens in the gallery according to the position of the birds when they were recorded, creating an immersive soundscape for visitors to the exhibition.

Dawn Chorus has been produced by Picture This, a Bristol-based commissioning agency and will be premiered at BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art. The project is supported by the Wellcome Trust. Picture This has worked with Marcus Coates and birdsong expert and wildlife sound recordist Geoff Sample from Northumberland over a three year period to support all aspects of the project, from scientific research and field work, to sourcing and filming singers and presenting the beautiful, natural phenomenon of the dawn chorus as a contemporary art exhibition.

During rigorous fieldwork 14 microphones were placed around woodland to record birds during one
morning of birdsong in Northumberland. This study is the first, simultaneous, multi-microphone
recording of individual birds during the dawn chorus. From this multi-track recording each song was
slowed down up to 16 times, then each human participant was filmed mimicking this slowed down
song.

Finally the resulting video footage was then speeded up, returning the bird mimicry into its ‘real’ register. The speeding up of the film not only magically translates the human voice into bird song, but also emphasises unconscious gestures that appear uncannily similar to the physical behaviour of specific birds; a grandfather becomes a pheasant, teachers in a staffroom transform into chiffchaffs, robins and blue tits and an office worker metamorphoses into a wren.

Humans share many aspects of biology and behaviour with birds - birds form social groups, build
nests/houses and in some cases mate for life. Birds have very complex vocal/communication patterns which have comparisons to our own; even having varying geographical dialects within the same species.
Metamorphosis through voice and sound is a state that Coates has long been exploring, and he has established a reputation for producing fascinating films in which the human voice accurately mimics complex and beautiful birdsong.

Dawn Chorus is the latest and most ambitious project in this series.