Above 8 Binaural Bounce by Robflute

'Above 8' was commissioned by Invisible Dust for the Offshore Exhibition at Ferens Art Gallery and Martime Museum as part of Hull2017 City of Culture. It was a collaboration between poet John Wedgwood Clarke and myself.

The title of this sound and poetry piece, ‘Above 8’, refers to the pH of the ocean in which life has evolved. With ocean acidification, this is due to fall to 7.7 by the end of the next century, potentially leading to disastrous disruptions of the chemical signals that allow organisms to find each other in marine environments.

John says more:

“When my colleague Dr Joerg D Hardege, from the Faculty of Science and Engineering, told me that this would effectively render many aquatic organisms ‘blind’ I realised that this was something that needed to be written about. He also told me that without the Harbour Ragworm, an organism susceptible to this pH change, there would be no mud in the Humber Estuary – that this little worm weaves the mud together into stable banks.

“So we had the big idea and the tiny, strange, overlooked organism – all the ingredients necessary to make a local piece of work with global relevance that explores the rich ecology and human history of the Humber. You’ll hear the sounds of waves breaking, cargo ships, the ferry port, human voices, the mud, and poems about much more, as we take a poetry sound-journey from Spurn Point to South Ferriby, via Paull, Salt End, The Ferry Terminal, Hull, Hull Museums and Far Ings.”