‘View In, View Out’, of the sounds of the Mendip Hill
‘View In, View Out’ is an immersive, multi-layered sound installation and sound trail inspired by the Mendip Hills National Landscape for Nature Calling. Co-authors Gwyneth Herbert, Jason Singh, and Chris Howard have gathered sounds, words and stories from young people and residents of Weston-super-Mare and the sounds of nature around Mendip as a way of inspiring and connecting people with their local landscape
“With VIVO, we wanted to encourage the sense of a shift in time, space and feeling about the Mendip Hills. For people to be transported, and inspired, gaining a new connection with their ancestors, and the plants, history and wildlife of this landscape through its sounds.” Nature interpreter, Chris Howard
Nature Calling is a new landmark arts project encouraging new audiences to better understand and connect with their local natural landscapes, improving wellbeing and inspiring a sense of belonging. Six of England’s National Landscapes have commissioned art projects and writers.
‘View In, View Out’ - VIVO is an original sound installation and sound trail by composer, lyricist and performer Gwyneth Herbert, sound artist, beatboxer and DJ Jason Singh, and producer and director of British wildlife documentaries Chris Howard. VIVO tracks through layers of time, soil, stone, stories and roots to hear the stories of ancestors of the caves, the dying song of the Ash trees, and the birds of the plateau. VIVO gathers, captures, and translates the breadth of the Mendip Hills landscape. The words of Eliza - spirit of Charterhouse - drumming of refugees, voices of local children and the ringing of ritual bells, hymns to the clouds and the tales of a Mendip storyteller are all woven together with the natural sounds and atmospheres from the Mendip Hills.
VIVO has been commissioned by the Mendip Hills National Landscape for Nature Calling. It is produced by Sound UK and Super Culture, and the executive producers are the
National Landscapes Association and Activate Performing Arts. It is supported by Arts Council England and DEFRA.
VIVO will transform a space in The Sovereign shopping centre in Weston-super-Mare into a fully immersive experience through an exceptional, spatialised d&b Soundscape system. A series of plaques placed on three walking trails, one in South Ward and two on the Mendip Hills, offers people the opportunity to listen to the ‘VIVO’ soundscape on their phones within the landscape itself. The soundscape and an augmented reality artwork will be accessible through a free app.
Mendip is a farmed landscape with a network of drystone walls and a rich tapestry of nature reserves and ancient monuments like Priddy Nine-barrows, Iron Age hill forts and neolithic finds in Ebbor Gorge. The unique limestone geology has provided rich inspiration for the artist's sound work, with recordings taking place in Cheddar and Ebbor Gorges, the disused quarries on the windswept plateau above Blagdon and the mine workings of Charterhouse.
VIVO draws from Gwyneth Herbert, Jason Singh, and Chris Howard's immersion into the Mendip Hills Landscape, from talking to a large range of residents in South Ward and making field recordings, research trips and writing sessions. Their artistic approach was in-depth and process-led, involving workshops and creative encounters within the town of Weston and out into the Mendip Hills. Exploring the land through talking, walking, listening and making together, the artists covered the green spaces of South Ward, the belly of Goatchurch Cavern, the farms of the plateau and the cliffs of Uphill.
Gwyneth Herbert said: “For me, ‘View In, View Out’ is an exploration of the landscapes both around and within us. In our engagements with the community, we’ve found the questions ‘What is Nature?’ and ‘Are We Nature?’ As humans, we often build walls, borders and categories that separate us from each other and the natural world that we share. But through the process of meeting and making, listening and sharing, wishing and singing in the land together, we have found glimpses of a new harmony. Where we belong to each other. Where nature doesn’t belong to us - we belong to it.”
Jason Singh said: “My work is always about helping people to listen more intentionally and emphasise sound more than we experience it on a daily level. We are making this sound installation to share how profound the sense of sound is and how it allows us to experience the world and our place in it on a very deep level. I would like people who come to this installation and experience a kind of magic within the mundane and ordinary.”
Chris Howard said: “I have just loved working with this incredible team, finding new ways to be in the landscape, and to learn from local communities too. We are very aware that we want to honour, respect and credit all those contributions in the work. Connecting with people through a deepening connection with the landscape has been a very special thing.”
Jim Hardcastle, Mendip Hills National Landscape Manager, said: "People find their own way into these landscapes, sometimes through adventure, wildlife watching or simply going for a walk, but many people won't have those opportunities to benefit from these nationally important landscapes. Art and artists working in communities outside the area reveal Mendip in a new way to people so that they get their own Nature Calling."
Fiona Matthews, Creative Director, Super Culture said: “We know how much contact with nature can support mental health, and ‘View In, View Out’ has brought an amazing opportunity for young people living in Weston's South Ward to creatively connect with the nature on their doorstep, as well as taking wilder and deeper steps out into the nearby Mendip landscape (and down into the caves!). Their experiences and voices are intrinsic to the resulting sound installation that breathes a sense of Mendip back into the town centre, inspiring others to experience the joys of the natural world afresh.”
Kate Wood and Bill Gee, Activate Performing Arts, said: “The collaborative approach from the artists Gwyneth Herbert, Jason Singh and Chris Howard, brings a very special quality to what they are producing with and for the Mendip Hills and Weston-super-Mare. Sensitive, deep-thinking artists, they have been working so creatively with groups locally. We love their decision to place the sound installations both in the urban setting and linking it directly to a nearby location in the Mendip Hills National Landscape. It will create a distinctive quality made especially for this special place.”
Nature Calling is a national arts project over six National Landscapes to inspire and connect new and existing communities with National Landscapes in England. The project provides new ways for people to access and engage with the countryside on their doorsteps. Through six significant new artworks and writing commissions, the project inspires and improves wellbeing locally, fostering a sense of belonging to these special landscapes for more people. A season of events and artwork launches will be presented from May to October 2025 for all six Nature Calling projects.
The VIVO installation can be found in The Sovereign, High Street, Weston-super-Mare from Monday 14 to Sunday 20 July. To find out more about the VIVO sound trail, visit mendiphills-nl.org.uk
For more information on Nature Calling visit naturecalling.org.uk
Images credit: Paul Blackmore
