London 2012

Olympic inspiration

Published 2 May 2012

The Olympics has inspired athletes across the world. Now it is also inspiring young artists as University of Brighton students take part in an innovative new project which aims to unite art, sport and place under the Olympic banner.

MA Digital Media Arts students at the university have helped to develop Sea of Voices, an interactive sound walk along the Brighton seafront which examines our fascination with the stories and histories of the sea.

The work was created by artist group Invisible Flock in partnership with Brighton arts organisations, including Lighthouse, Fabrica, Brighton Festival, Blast Theory, Photoworks and The University of Brighton's Faculty of Arts.

Invisible Flock uses interactive media to encourage the public to become co-creators of art by blending visual art, gaming, public art and theatre.

Guided by an audio tour which begins at the Fabrica Gallery, those taking part in the sound walk will peer through telescopes and explore the imagery, mythology and history of the Brighton coast. They will also be invited to cast a message out to sea by texting a buoy moored at Brighton Marina. Each evening the buoy will convert these messages to morse code and flash them out to sea.

Sea of Voices interactive audio tour at Brighton Marina

The work is part of RELAY, a free contemporary arts programme which celebrates the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games by taking sport, art and location as starting points for a series of artistic commissions. The project will be officially launched by Caroline Collier, Chair of Arts Council England South East in Fabrica's gallery in Duke Street Brighton on 4 May.

The Sea of Voices walk is open from 5–27 May and the university's involvement is part of the Creative Campus Initiative funded by the Higher Education Funding Council. This project was recently highlighted in a report by Universities UK entitled Olympic and Paralympic Games: the impact of universities (3.5Mb pdf).

After Brighton kicks off the RELAY project, the baton will be passed on to major contemporary arts organisations across the south east, starting with the Aspex Gallery in Portsmouth. The programme is a unique collaboration between contemporary arts organisations in the south east, universities and local sporting groups.