History Revisited: Exploring the sounds and stories of Chatham Historic Dockyard

Wed 4th May to Sun 8th May 2022, 10am-5pm
Mezzanine, Slip 3, Chatham Historic Dockyard

The installation History Revisited presents tales of Chatham Dockyard, recounted by voices of the past and reflected on by voices of the present. It invites the listener to walk through 18 sound compositions created by students from Canterbury Academy Secondary School and our research team. Students were inspired to compose with field recordings of the Chatham Dockyard site, developing their pieces in workshops conducted by our research team in November 2021. The sonic works include sounds from the dockyard and interviews with former workers of the yard.

History Revisited is presented through the Music & Audio Arts Sound Theatre (MAAST), using 26 loudspeakers and three projectors at Mezzanine of Slip 3, Chatham Historic Dockyard. This custom surround sound system places the listener inside the soundscapes, creating an enveloping and immersive sound experience.

Special thanks go to the Canterbury Academy students and their teacher, Andy Freeman, for their contribution to the project. All photographs of the projections in the installation are from the Chatham Historic Dockyard archives, courtesy of CHDT.

History Revisited is part of the Sonic Palimpsest research project, funded by the AHRC.