SOUTHBANK CENTRE

Things we've done

Here is a selection of projects from the recent past:

Messiaen Festival

1 FEBRUARY - 10 DECEMBER 2008

In the 100 year anniversary of Messiaen's birth we are celebrating his work by staging one of the biggest festivals of his music anywhere in the world. Throughout the year there are many concerts and events happening, here at Southbank Centre and in venues across London. Visit the website www.southbankcentre.co.uk/messiaen for full events listings, as well as a special Explore section with projects, opinions, sounds, images and videos to learn more about this unique artist, his music and his inspirations. Upload your own idea and opinions on Messiaen and the events in the festival there as well. Come back and check out Explore as it keeps growing throughout the year.
 
Messiaen was a very interesting man
During the Second World War Messiaen was a prisoner of war but composed a wonderful piece of music called Quatuor pour la fin du temps ("Quartet for the end of time") which was first performed by Messiaen and fellow prisoners to an audience of inmates and prison guards. We are working with local schools to explore this piece of music further using music, sound and animation to respond to it. Come back to the Explore section in the summer to see these films.
 
Messiaen experienced music as colours
He had a form of synaesthesia, which is a confusion of our senses - other people might taste sound or sense a shape when they eat. For Messiaen the act of composing was perhaps like painting in sound and he used combinations of colours in his compositions. As part of the Festival musicians have worked with artists to explore this idea further and you can find images and music from their work by using the Tag Cloud on our website. Click on the words "colour" or "synaesthesia" in the Tag Cloud for their work.
 
He used birdsong in lots of his music
Messiaen collected the songs of thousands of birds throughout France and the world and he wrote down, or transcribed, their song into musical notes and used them when he composed. We have been listening to birdsong and birds within many of our projects and are creating a flock of origami birds at the website. You can upload pictures of your origami birds easily in the Explore section.
 
Can you tell us anything else  about Messiaen? Have you heard his music performed? What did it sound like? Visit us at the Explore section and let us know!
http://messiaenfestival.com/explore

 

Play

18 AUGUST - 2 OCTOBER 2006

176,900 people vistors experienced this project in just seven weeks. We invited vistors to take the stage and become the orchestra!

"On the outdoor terrace, seating is laid out as if in an orchestra. When you take a seat the instrument that belongs there begins to sound, playing its part in a piece of music. Moving around the space and trying different seats, you experience a musical score in constant evolution. By switching on your mobile phone's Bluetooth function, you can download unique ringtones and send sounds back to eventually become part of the music played by the virtual orchestra."

Read here for more information on this project.

Trading Places

People, Poetry and Photography of Lower Marsh

What is the poetry of the place where you live? What are the hidden stories of the street you walk down every day?

Trading Places was a project inspired by the opening show of the Poetry International Festival 2006. Kwame Dawes’ Wisteria: Twilight Songs from the Swamp Country is a collection of poems based on the memories of elders in his local community in South Carolina. In a parallel journey of reminiscence Southbank Centre worked with the people of Lower Marsh, Spread the Word and the Lomographic Society International on a project that discovered the hidden poetry of everyday places and captured a portrait of this street through photography.

Working with school children, local young people, residents, shop owners, office workers, market traders and elders we created an interactive wall of songs, snapshots, poetry and memories, a ‘Lomowall’, at the front of the Royal Festival Hall.

Visit the minsite: www.southbankcentre.co.uk/tradingplaces

Hidden Love Song

FEBRUARY 2006

Hidden Love Song was part of a series of installations on the hoardings keeping the public in touch with education at the Royal Festival Hall during the building’s transformation:

"Valentine’s Day and a new composition by Mark-Anthony Turnage is celebrated in a new collaboration between Southbank Centre, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Central Saint Martins and two primary schools in Lambeth and Kent.

The new installation is the latest in a series to brighten a popular commuter route alongside the Royal Festival Hall. The installation contains hundreds of love messages written by Londoners, hidden behind a silver film. Visitors to the South Bank walking past the installation will be encouraged to scratch away the silver to reveal the poems and messages, while being serenaded by excerpts from Turnage’s composition: Hidden Love Song."