Performance, installation, Thought-control Experiment…

In 2006 I collaborated with artists Iain Forsyth and Jane Pollard on ‘Silent Sound’  – a performance and installation presented at St George’s Hall and the A-Foundation, Liverpool as part of the Liverpool Biennial.

The multi-media performance consisted of the artists themselves entering a soundproof booth on stage, and reciting an incantation which was projected to the audience using ‘Silent Sound’ technology, originally developed by the CIA for experimental thought control purposes.  The performance was presented in the magnificent 19th century St George’s Hall and included a live score composed by Jason Pierce of Spiritualized, and played by a 16-piece orchestra.

I designed and made both the soundproof cabinet and also the Silent Sound Machine itself, through close collaboration with Iain and Jane.  During the performance, which explored the links between suggestibility, belief  and technology, the audience watched the artists in the cabinet repeatedly uttering an incantation, whilst listening to the music,  all the while allowing their minds to be infiltrated with Iain and Jane’s message via the Silent Sound technology.

Photography by Anne Worthington