Call 01642 056912 to hear Liberation Through Hearing.

Liberation Through Hearing is a site-specific installation commissioned by Measure for a phonebox outside the Royal Academy of Art. The phonebox was the first design of the iconic red phonebox, designed by Gilbert Scott. Audiences listened to the piece by dialling a number from the payphone inside the phonebox. The piece explored the early history of telephony and its relationship with spiritualism, transporting the listener to the purgatory of an on-hold system soundtracked by a 6 hour-long version of the ubiquitous on-hold music piece Opus 1 (written by Tim Carleton), performed by me and the contemporary classical ensemble ARCO. As well as the music an on-hold voice offered listeners snatches of this history, quoting from anthropological texts, Alexander Graham Bell, Emmanuel Swedenborg, Avita Ronnel and Jean Cocteau, amongst others.