This September sees the arrival of the BE OPEN Sound Portal in Trafalgar Square as part of the tenth anniversary of the London Design Festival 2012. Situated within one of London’s most iconic public spaces, the BE OPEN Sound Portal is an entirely new kind of installation that focuses on the design that you can’t see – that of acoustics and sound – rather than visual spectacle.

An alien black, rubberised structure will be home to finely-tuned audio technologies aimed at delivering pure acoustic experiences to visitors in the middle of Trafalgar Square - one of the busiest and aurally chaotic environments in London.

Every day, the BE OPEN Sound Portal will host one of five leading musicians and sound artists, each of whom has been specially commissioned to create a unique soundscape. Expect a range of vibrant sonic and musical responses, from the dramatic sounds of the natural world, such as glaciers breaking up, to exquisitely detailed electronic music. Cocooned from the external noise and bustle of the city, the BE OPEN Sound Portal allows visitors to experience a very different environment, one created by sound alone.

BE OPEN Foundation, the global initiative to foster creativity and innovation, and the London Design Festival are co-producing a project in Trafalgar Square. BE OPEN was set up to explore ways in which excellence in creative thinking can produce real social innovation, encouraging new work at the frontiers of design. One of the things that attracted BE OPEN to this project is that it’s effectively an ambitious mobile laboratory for exploring the boundaries of what can be achieved with sound technology – an active demonstration of design’s transformational abilities .

Elena Baturina, founder of BE OPEN, says,

“We’ve set up BE OPEN so that we can work with the great creative minds of today, encouraging them to continue to innovate so that they can improve on what we have and generate solutions for tomorrow’s world. The designers of the BE OPEN Sound Portal and those who will be creating soundscapes for it are at the cutting edge: they are the future of acoustic evolution. So a journey into the BE OPEN Sound Portal is a must for anyone interested in hearing what tomorrow will be like.”

The BE OPEN Sound Portal is designed by Arup, world leaders in the area of acoustic engineering, with content commissioned by contemporary music organisation Sound and Music. One of the challenges that the Portal has set itself is how to change our experience of urban space. Arup’s acoustic technicians, engineers and designers have long been pioneers in this field, using sound design to change how we experience airports, stadiums, auditoriums, even roads. The BE OPEN Sound Portal gives them a real life experimental space to develop this work and actively demonstrate design’s transformational capabilities.

The five sound artists and composers include award winning Norwegian artist Jana Winderen, radical Drum and Bass pioneer Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher) and a Russian artist sourced in collaboration with BE OPEN, Ivan Pavlov.

JANA WINDEREN
The acclaimed Norwegian artist Jana Winderen researches the hidden depths of sound with the latest technology; her work reveals the complexity and strangeness of the unseen world beneath. The audio topography of the oceans and the depth of ice crevasses are brought to the surface for the listener. She is concerned with finding sound from hidden sources and revealing the secret voices of the natural world.

COH
['son] - noun: "sleep","dream" [Russian]
Ivan Pavlov is a Russian-born resident of Stockholm who has been releasing electronic music as COH since 1998. Characterised by exquisite detail and subtle sound manipulation, COH’s music plays with popular culture references such as folk, metal, pop and dance music whilst retaining a truly original voice. Aside from his many solo projects Pavlov well know as a collaborator with many leading electronic musician such as Coil, Cosey Fanni Tutti and Peter Christopherson.

NATHANIEL ROBIN MANN
Nathaniel Robin Mann is an artist, performer, composer and sound designer. He is a specialist in ambisonic recording and is currently artist in residence at The Pitt Rivers Museum and Oxford Contemporary Music as part of Sound and Music’s Embedded programme. As well as being active as a solo performer he is a member of the avant-folk group Dead Rat Orchestra and has collaborated with many leading international artists such as Adam Lowe, Anish Kapoor, Dionisio Gonzalez and Marc Quinn. In 2008 he won the Gran Prix of the 11th Cairo Arts Biennial with Lara Baladi.

JO THOMAS
London based electronic music performer and composer Jo Thomas is a creator of richly detailed sound worlds. She was awarded the Golden Nica in Prix Ars Electronica 2012 for her work Crystal and her first solo release Alpha was nominated for a Qwartz award in 2011. Aside from her composition activities she teaches sound design, composition and music technology at the University of East London.

TOM JENKINSON (SQUAREPUSHER)
Squarepusher is the principal pseudonym adopted by UK-based recording artist Tom Jenkinson. His compositions draw on numerous influences including drum and bass, acid house, jazz and electro-acoustic music. His music is created from a combination of electronic sound sources, live instrumental playing and digital signal processing. He is renowned for his bass playing; Flea of The Red Hot Chilli Peppers has described him as "the best electric bass player on Earth."


Performance Dates

Wed 19 Sept: Ivan Pavlov

Thurs 20 Sept: Nathaniel Robin Mann

Friday 21 Sept: Jo Thomas

Saturday 22 Sept: Tom Jenkinson (Squarepusher)

Sunday 23 Sept: Jana Winderen