out of ice
2013 - 2014
As part of the education programme for Elizabeth Ogilvie’s ‘Out of Ice’ exhibition in London, artist Jacob Bee and environmental writer and sound artist Rob St. John worked with teenagers in schools in Scotland and England, using sound to explore the role of water and ice in the natural world.
Working with small groups equipped with field recorders, Bee and St. John encouraged listening, discussion and reflection on how sound informs us about the natural world, drawing together art, geography and the sciences.
The teenagers became sonic ‘citizen scientists’ of their surroundings, documenting and teasing apart their relationships with the environment through sound.
After an introduction to Elizabeth Ogilvie’s work, and a workshop on the themes behind Out of Ice, the students at three schools in Fife, Edinburgh and London led Jacob and Rob on a soundwalk around the environments close to home.
Along the way the groups stopped to record their ideas about what sound tells them about the landscape, and the thoughts, ideas and feelings it inspires.
The resulting radio programme was broadcast on Resonance FM on Friday 7th February at 1700.
Scottish environmental artist Elizabeth Ogilvie portrays the psychological, physical and poetic dimensions of ice and water in Out of Ice, a vast immersive installation specially created for the subterranean spaces of Ambika P3, London in January and February 2014.
Fusing art, architecture and science in an experiential installation comprising ice, water, video projections and film, Ogilvie’s dramatic large-scale work is a portal to the hidden extremes of our planet.
