I always love popping into Fabrica in Brighton to see what they have going on in there — there’re great audio-visual installations happening in there on-repeat! Originally a space designed as a place of worship, it attributes an interesting dynamic and spacious acoustics to audio-visual works.

This time around Fabrica welcomes Marcus Coates and his multi-screen installation, exploring the similarities between birdsong and the human voice (the human voice in particular being a subject that I find fascinating). 

The collection of screens draped around the room features a variety of “everyday people” within their everyday environments - whether this is at work, in a waiting room, in a hospital etc. From speakers dotted around the room, you are able to hear recordings of the dawn chorus (birdsong) of 14 birds, synced with the corporeal counterpart of each human on-screen. Through trial and error, the original recordings were managed to be recorded of 14 birds simultaneously having a natural interaction with each other. In the installation, the humans are set up to appear to be having a similar interaction — even though the people featured are all in completely separate locations and situations (none of them appear to have never even met each other).

The installation explores birds within their natural habitat communicating with others of their species, and it’s similarities and differences with human behaviour. 

This is definitely worth a visit. But, be warned, you will need a solid amount of time to get your head around it — and don’t be surprised if you have a handful of unanswered questions about what you’ve just witnessed by the time you leave!

Opening hours of exhibition:
3 April – 1 May
Weds – Sat, 12-5pm
Sundays, 2-5pm
Bank Holidays (3 April,6 April,25 May) 2-5pm
2 May – 24 May
Every day 12-7pm