Fear and terror

Photography: Kaitelin O'Brien

John Young's To the Red Sky was strictly an audio performance. I was quite dubious about sitting for an hour surrounded by speakers in a spotlight beam, listening to a recording of sound from the First World War. We were advised to keep our eyes closed to capture the essence of the experience. Still uncertain, I did so. Then it began.

 “He used to say to me…
  …Do you think you’ll get through?”
This is one of the lines that stuck with me.

A gust of electroacoustic sound rotated around the room as if someone was circling the edge of a fishbowl and I was the water within, confined and tormented. I had to put pressure on my feet to remind myself I was just sitting and listening, and that I was in the same place where I had been before I closed my eyes. There were crashes, clatters and clanks rebounding from every corner of the room. The speakers spat at me. I was haunted by harsh whispers, punctured by shots of sound. Then sporadic droplets of high frequencies gave a sense of hope that was soon swallowed by a battle of sharp shots and deep tones.

I felt the paranoia, I felt the interrogation, I felt the anticipation. I was in the trenches. 

The way John was able to manipulate these sounds to provide the sensation of trench warfare was astonishing. 

 The Imperial War Museum holds the oral recordings used for this remarkable performance.

 

s.m.blair