A sound mirror of your own!

The Selsey acoustic mirror, known locally as the listening post is up for sale, with a guide price of £120 000 freehold.

Described as Of Non Traditional Construction and Grade II Listed, this property of some historical interest is in need of totally updating.. From what I remember of my visit, the estate agent’s description is pretty much spot on!

It offers

  • Kitchen, Sitting Room, Bedroom, Bathroom. There are Surrounding Gardens, a basement ideally used as a workshop and a Garage. Vacant Possession.
  • Surrounding gardens which are currently overgrown with brambles, enclosed by fencing.

Selsey would be a bit inconvenient for me, and having just bought a house, I’ve no plans to do it all again!

This mirror is rather interesting, in that there is very little information about it floating around. The design is similar to the First World War era mirrors in the northeast. A couple of years ago when I spoke to Richard Scarth, author of Echoes from the Sky he said he’d not been to Selsey to see this one, and didn’t know much about it.

The Selsey Community Website says

The Listening Post was in April 1999 recognised as a Grade 2 Listed building. During the 1st World War a listening post was built in Selsey at East Beach to provide early warning of approaching Zepplins. The structure took the form of an “acoustic mirror” which was built of concrete and shaped like a modern satellite dish. The structure survived and is currently the subject of great interest due to its rarity.

Mirrors from the railway

Last weekend I went down to the 80th anniversary celebrations at the Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway, and in passing confirmed that it is possible to get a distant glimpse of the 200′ listening ear at Denge from a train, if you know where to look.

The Hythe mirror is rather more clearly visible, and is shown in the background of a painting of the RH&DR’s armoured train which is being sold as a postcard.

Abbot’s Cliff sound mirror pictures

Abbot

Eugene has sent me three nice photos of the Abbot’s Cliff sound mirror, on the white cliffs near Folkestone.

Abbot

The Abbot’s Cliff mirror is at grid reference TR27083867, between Folkestone and Dover. It is very easy to find, simply follow the tarmac path along the cliff top, and you can’t really miss it (it is a great big block of concrete, after all!). It is a five to ten minute walk from the Folkestone – Dover road.

Abbot

2007 guided walks to the Denge sound mirrors

Because they are on an island surrounded by the waters of a deep gravel pit, the sound mirrors at Denge are only accessible on guided walks (believe me, this is true, I’m not making it up!).

Dates of guided walks are listed on the Romney Marsh Countryside Project website. I’ve been twice, and the “Echoes from the Sky” walks, led by Dr Scarth, author of the now out-of-print book and world expert on acoustic mirrors, are well worth doing – and very popular. Getting there by public transport requires a bit of planning, but is possible. Alternatively, the walks start from a large car park.

More sound mirror art

An e-mail informs me of the following event.

10th Disinformation solo exhibition
“Fire in the Eye” + “The Origin of Painting” “The Analysis of Beauty” + “Blackout”

Saltburn Artists Projects
30 Marske Road
Saltburn TS12 1QG
20 Jan to 11 March 2007
www.saltburnartistsprojects.org.uk
http://rixc.lv/waves/en/txt08.html

The exhibition features “Blackout” – Barry Hale’s highly influential (and frequently copied) video of monolithic, concrete air-defence Sound Mirrors.

“Blackout” was made to accompany Sound Mirror imagery created by photographer Julian Hills in 1996 (for the packaging of the Disinformation “Antiphony” double remix CD, published in 1997). The “Blackout” video has been shown at The Royal College of Art (London),chirn Kunsthalle (Frankfurt), The Dom (Moscow), Galerie fur Zeitgennossische Kunst (Leipzig) and others, and exhibited at The Mac (Birmingham), CCCB (Barcelona), Quay Arts (Isle of Wight), Q Gallery (Derby), South Hill Park (Bracknell), The Waygood Gallery (Newcastle), The ICA (London), Event Gallery (London), Wrexham Arts Centre and The Latvian National Museum of Art.

Disinformation videos available on You Tube…

Hope you enjoy!

1. Disinformation “Artificial Lightning”* Live at The Hayward Gallery, London
www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5s8RURPJ-Y
(*aka “The Origin of Painting”)

2. Disinformation “The Origin of Painting”
Live at Fabrica, Brighton
www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Vi-lB_2_qg

3. Disinformation at NTT ICC Tokyo (extract)
Phase of Post Music concert series
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sLFx4T8R74

4. Disinformation “The Analysis of Beauty”
Premiered at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMtz9ciE9M0

5. Disinformation and Hari Kunzru (extract)
Interview for “The Lounge” on Sky TV
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7L1o5zUWkOM

6. Disinformation vs Strange Attractor “National Grid”
Live at New Corsica Studios, London + detailed text
www.youtube.com/watch?v=B13-09K-Ubc

7. Disinformation “The Origin of Painting”
Live at Wrexham Arts Centre
www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji6Wvp7aALE