Empty with HOME
Kristy Stott, Theatre Editor
During the lockdown, as HOME lay empty of activity, renowned Manchester-based composer, guitarist and music technologist, Jaydev Mistry, set out on a sonic adventure to the building’s unique soundtrack.
Jaydev wandered the theatre spaces, galleries, cinemas and corridors to record the building at rest. The ambient sounds captured such as low-level humming, creaking, percussive sounds have been used to form the framework of the piece. These recordings have been translated into a special musical composition to reveal the soundscape beating inside HOME.
In order to fully document the time when HOME’s doors were closed and the building fell silent, a series of behind the scenes images were captured by photographer Arvind Mistry too. Eery and unsettling, these images complement Jaydev’s atmospheric soundscape and give audiences an interesting audiovisual insight into HOME as it lay silent.
Of the project, Jaydev says: “It felt odd entering HOME having only ever been in there when it was bustling with people and activity, at first, eery and disconcerting but it felt good to be in the space again. As a musician, this was a rare opportunity to sonically document the building and coupled with the photographs Arvind Mistry took I hope I have created an interesting sonic insight for the audience of HOME at rest”.
Empty runs for approximately 20 minutes and contains rapidly changing images.
