Artstation invited a group of friends to listen to the dawn chorus in the urban woodland of Blackweir Arboretum in Bute Park, Cardiff on Sunday 2nd May 2021 – our contribution to International Dawn Chorus Day. It was the first social gathering for over a year for many of us, as Wales tentatively emerged from lockdown for the first time during the Covid-19 pandemic.

We sat in a circle around a clearing in the cool early-morning darkness. Starting from silence, we explored the space around us with ear and mind as it awoke from its night of rest. In time, the event began to take different shape, as we invited our guests to listen to the chorus through wireless headphones connected to the ears of a binaural head mounted at the centre of the circle. Over time, we added other layers of sound, as ways of challenging the reality of what we were hearing.

The event was conceived as an experimental sonic artwork. The experiment opened up several avenues of thought for us, which we are exploring in a sequence of essays, which can be found on the linked web page.

If you want to know more about the event, please contact Artstation.