Whistleblower

Whistleblower is a sound installation artwork working with a choir reciting spoken word transcripts in a round. The effect of the multiple layer of voices speaking in repetition creates the hypnotic soundtrack to produce a meditative state in the viewer. Audience members are invited to orchestrate the performance through simple hand gestures and walk amongst the choir during the piece.

Initially piloted with 1st year Drama students from St Helens College in August 2018 ‘Whistleblower’ received funding to perform at Light Night Leeds 2018.

Whistleblower was held over 2 nights during Leeds Light Night 2018 at Leeds Town Hall Crypt. Our activity featured a choir of spoken word performers reciting pre-recorded text, repeated and delivered in a round. Our choir was recruited from professional performers and novices during a social media and email campaign prior to the performance days. Our choir met at the space at 5:30pm each night to run through the performance
and experiment with positioning. It was our intention that members of the public would take part in the performance either as conductors or participants. Both roles proved popular and after initial hesitation from the public we welcomed a variety of people with our youngest conductor only 8 years old. We have discovered that the piece works best when interacted with, we felt the energy change in the room once the public had been encouraged to take part and our feedback reflects in their comments. We were thrilled with the outcome and welcomed around 1000 people on the first night and 1500 on the second night. We estimate around 400 people walked around the choir and experienced the piece away from the seated viewing area with around 50 people taking up our offer of reading as part of the choir or conducing.