Art project makes music from old Rose Hill house (From thisisoxfordshire)

Art project makes music from old Rose Hill house

4:15pm Friday 10th July 2009

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A CONDEMNED former council house in Rose Hill, Oxford, has been turned into an unusual musical instrument for the public to play this weekend.

The fixtures and fittings of 42 Lenthall Road – including the toilet and the bath – have been turned into a domestic orchestra by artist Sarah Kenchington as part of Modern Art Oxford’s Art in Rose Hill programme.

The post-war concrete Orlit house, one of about 100 properties that will be knocked down as part of the area’s regeneration, will be open to the public today and tomorrow between 10am and 5pm.

Among the instruments are a harp under the stairs and cupboards that make noises as they are opened.

Miss Kenchington said: “I make musical instruments out of found objects and this is exploring that within the community.

“I’ve tried to represent the sound of the materials and the atmosphere of the house. There are a lot instruments made from parts of the house, like an orchestra echoing the domestic sounds that would have been made in the house normally.

“It’s actually a bit of a creepy feeling. The community can come and play, make their own music and be recorded for a CD which will be given away at a presentation at the end of the month.

“It’s always difficult to predict what kind of noise objects will make. The bath is an old metal one – I’ve moved it away from the wall and it sounds like a bell, it’s fantastic.

“I haven’t done anything with the toilet, but it can be played and it makes a great gurgling sound — I’ve never heard a toilet played before.

“I know it was an old council house so I thought the walls would be thin and it would be full of cheap materials, but it’s pre-fabricated concrete.

“It’s a challenge to get vibrations into a concrete structure.”

Miss Kenchington said visitors would have to explore deep within the house to find all the instruments – and urged people to come and create their own sounds.

Fellow artist Mark Vernon will be recording parts of the weekend’s activities in the house for a documentary and CD to be played at Modern Art Oxford’s gallery in Pembroke Street on July 30.

For more details visit artinrosehill.org.uk

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