Coventry’s Delia Derbyshire-inspired electronic music festival will host a series of events at Herbert Art Gallery & Museum over the holidays.
The City is Full of Noises (CFON) is an annual event held each spring, but special programming in conjunction with Midlands Modular (MiMo) will see the festival stretch out into summer.
Each Sunday in August a different event will be held to get people engaged and thinking about music and sound in different ways.
The first CFON x MiMO summer session on August 6 is Baby Binaural Beats. This will be a collaboration with artist RMBK to create a sonically soothing ambient session for our younger visitors.
Join from 12pm in our Early Years exhibition at the Herbert to experience baby binaural beats, melodies, and visuals. RMBK has created a visual and audio soundscape that will calm, engage, and enchant babies and toddlers alike. It might even help relax a frazzled parent or two!
The second summer event on August 13 is Test Transmission – a collaboration with MiMo which involves sound artist and performer Steck dose. From 12pm as Steck dose will be creating a sound installation which centres on the radio and radio waves. A selection of radios positioned around the gallery will transmit a live newly produced musical work. Visitors will also be able to use their own devices, digital or analogue, to tune in to the performance.
Thirdly on August 20 is the Biofeedback Orchestra, which will feature CFON veteran John Biddulph AKA handmadesound, and his plant-based orchestra. From 12pm, John will be filling the galleries with many weird and wonderful electronic sounds and signals.
Handmadesound introduced our visitors at this year’s CFON festival to the amazing way of making music using the biorhythms of plants, mosses and fungi. Now he’s coming back with a new roster of melody making living things.
Finally,on August 27 the last session will be Elektro-Magnetika. This sees the festival welcome back some CFON friends for a new performance based on old technology. Inspired by sonic pioneers like Radiophonic Workshop, Rick Holt and Ian Campbell, they will be creating a new sonic landscape using reel to reel tape recorders. From 12pm the Herbert’s galleries will be transported back to a time when music was physically cut and sliced together before the use of samplers and computers.
Exhibitions Manager Dominic Bubb said: “The City Full of Noises is always an exciting event to be involved in so I’m thrilled we’re hosting the summer packed full of engaging and fun events.
“There will be something for everyone to get involved in so do come along and check the events out – I just know that anyone takes part will leave buzzing with new ideas and concepts about music and sound.”
Find out more information here.