Alfred Bird

I was interested in Alfred Bird because of the link with the Custard factory. Apparently he was an industrial chemist and entrepreneur. He created eggless custard powder because of his wife's egg allergy. He has a very simple flat family gravestone.

Maps of the Area

Links to various maps:
http://www.bham.de/
follow the LHS links for the maps

http://www.old-maps.co.uk/maps.html
http://maps.google.co.uk/

http://www.birmingham-jewelry-quarter.net/en_map.php

The Jewelry quarter  in 1828

This map shows the limit of the growth of Birmingham at this time, the jewelry quarter barely encroached on the countryside.

Key Hill Cemetery in 1903   O.S. map

This shows the site of the original chapel and the sand pit quarry. There is already a railway running through the area.

Key Hill Cemetery Plot layout

A-Z Road map

This is a map from the 1960's and shows Key Hill cemetery subsumed into the urban sprawl which is Birmingham

OS Map from 1962 Key Hill called Hockley cemetery

Website Links to the Jewelry Quarter and the Cemeteries

Some of my Research Links

http://www.jqrg.org/index.html
http://www.jquarter.org.uk/webdisk/index.htm

The research group for the cemeteries.

http://www.birminghamuk.com/wikipedia/Birds_Custard.htm
http://www.birhttp//www.jewelleryquarter.net/about/sub-page/cemeteries-of-the-jewellery-quarter/minghamheritage.org.uk/keyhill.html
http://www.fkwc.org/

The friends of Key Hill and Warstone Lane cemeteries have taken up the cause of rescuing the cemeteries from the vandalism and neglect which has taken place since closure to new burials in the mid 20th C.



http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/cs/Satellite?c=Page&childpagename=Bereavement%2FPageLayout&cid=1223092550037&pagename=BCC%2FCommon%2FWrapper%2FWrapper
http://penroom.co.uk/default.aspx

The cemetery archives at the Pen museum



http://www.bham.de/
http://british-history.ac.uk/place.aspx?region=5
http://birminghamhistory.co.uk/forum/forum.php

 General history sites for  Birmingham.

Online Journal of Embodiment and Technology

Justine Shih Pearson

A sound artist  creates an audio walk based on 'Her Long Black Hair' by Janet Cardiff.
There are excerpts from Janet Cardiff's walk and then excerpts from the artist's attempts to analyse and recreate it.


Ruminations While (Audio)Walking: Time, Place, and the Body

by Justine Shih Pearson

http://www.extensionsjournal.org/the-journal/5/ruminations-while-audiowalking-time-place-and-the-body-0

Binaural recording and problems with Technology

Technical equipment

I made a 'head' out of soft plastic padding. This gives a much clearer binaural effect.

Binaural 'head' connected to Zoom recorder

Side aspect showing the Omni directional Microphone 
shielded from wind noise

Here are some websites of artists who use binaural recording.

http://www.dallassimpson.com/

Dallas Simpson is generally regarded as a leading exponent of Binaural recording in Britain. He specialises in subtle environmental soundscapes

http://openfile.org.uk/stream/tag/binaural-recording

This is a binaural recording of a walk conducted by artist Matt Westbrook and Dallas Simpson for Grand Union in Birmingham.

http://openfile.org.uk/site-non-site/

More about the rationale for the Grand Union walk.

Key Hill Cemetery walk 2

Problems with Technology

Having borrowed the 'Edirol' I found it could not do binaural recording. Therefore I bought a 'Zoom' recorder.

The walk

• First binaural recording
• Disappointing! I had attached the external microphones to my earphones to simulate my own hearing, but there was insufficient binaural effect, also wind noise.
• However I identified some of the graves of interest notably Joseph Chamberlain and Goerge Dawson. 

I will visit the Pen Museum for more information as they hold the archives for the cemetery.

Catacombs and Factories on Key Hill

The site of Joseph Chamberlain's Grave

The Chamberlain Family Grave.

George Dawson's Obelisk

Inscription on base of George Dawson's Obelisk

Looking down from Key Hill drive

Looking down from Key Hill drive

Key Hill Cemetery Photographs from Walk 1

Walk 1

I am going to restrict the walk to Key Hill Cemetery because there is sufficient material.

Map and information at Cemetery entrance

Main gates on Iknield Street

Main path

Original site of Chapel

General view

Looking towards the Catacombs



Looking towards the Catacombs

Plaque of names in Common Graves

Catacomb

Catacomb niche

General view of Catacombs

'Beheaded' memorial

Factories on Key Hill above cemetery

Side view of Catacombs

Path towards Key Hill entrance

Looking back to site of Chapel

The Sound of Fear

Radio 4 explores  the relationship between Sound and Fear.

David Toop and Chu-Li Shrewing discussed with neuroscientist Sophie Scottt how the use of Schizophonic sound (dis-associated sound) causes particular unease for the listener.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015zpf5

Janet Cardiff describes her work at SFMOMA

Janet Cardiff explains how she first discovered the uncanny effect of replaying an audio commentary in the same environment ( a cemetery) where it was made.
She also explains how she uses Binaural recording to create her audio walks.        Janet Cardiff describes her work at SFMOMA

Bibliography. Also Documentary by Janet Cardiff and George Bures Miller

This is a video/audio work by the artists. The artists provide some explanation of how they execute their work and their intentions.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKXXkxD3ue4&feature=related

Bibliography: Essential reading/listening


janet cardiff the walk book(with CD)  
mirjam schaub (2005) 
Koln: Walter Konig


Pandemonium (with CD) Janet Cardiff + George Bures Miller An Installation curated by Julie Courtney at Eastern Penitentionary Historic Site Philadelphia. May 2005-November 2006


Janet Cardiff : a Survey of Works Including Collaborations with George Bures Miller (with CD)
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev (2002)
P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, New York

Initial Thoughts

First Thoughts

Soundscape in South London, rejected due to practical difficulties.

Susan Hiller

At the Susan Hiller exhibition at Tate Britain  I was particularly struck by her audio/visual work "Monument". this sowed the seed of an idea, a graveyard audio walk.
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999961&workid=21187&searchid=9519

Monument by Susan Hiller
Image courtesy of Tate

Audio Obscura: Lavinia Greenlaw

Another inspiration for me was an audio walk at St Pancras station. Wearing sound excluding headphones  you meandered around the busy station for about 20 minutes listening to snatches of overheard conversations and fictional narrative which melded into the actual visual/sonic environment. It was very immersive and also disorientating, trying to work out reality and fiction.

http://www.artangel.org.uk/projects/2011/audio_obscura

Janet Cardiff

Through the autumn term as I worked on my dissertation I became increasingly interested in Janet Cardiff's sound walks, follow the link to listen to them.

http://www.cardiffmiller.com/artworks/walks/index.html

Further Thoughts

I switched venues to the Jewelry Quarter in Birmingham.

 Rationale: 

• Personal connections and prior knowledge of the area.
• I was particularly interested in two cemeteries which can be found there: Key Hill and Warstone Lane. The history of the cemeteries has more potential for a coherent narrative
• They are both very atmospheric and contain the remains of many of Birmingham's important historical figures as well as public graves containing up to fifty coffins with the mortal remains of less affluent people.
• The cemeteries have fallen into disrepair and decay which I also find interesting.
• I realised the importance of a tightly defined area which works with a timed walk/ audio.

.