Global Accent (2008)

Created for the 2008 Late Music Festival at the National Centre for Early Music in York, England.

6-14 June 2008, National Centre for Early Music, York, England

This sound installation investigates the idea of accents as ‘voiceprints’ in a globalised context. The work is constructed as a series of cycles of recordings of non-native English speakers reading the same phrase for a linguistic study. The recordings have been re-organised trying to emphasise different aspects of the accents of people from different nationalities, focussing on how accents can reveal aspects of people’s personalities embedded in their linguistic backgrounds.

The installation is implemented using one of the sculptures on the grounds of The National Centre for Early Music built and designed by Martin Shoobridge. The sounds are played separately through the tubes of the sculpture as a way to create a spatial interplay for the visitors.