Loc­al Birds, 2001

Digit­al video, SD 720 × 576 4:3

08:09 min

Filmed in Allen­heads, Northum­ber­land, UK

Per­formed by Angel Porteous, Stu­art Walk­er, Maria Cur­wen, Alan Smith, Wil­li­am Bell, Christine Dox­ford, Laurie Short, Vic­tor­ia Cruz

Cam­era and sound by Mar­cus Coates

Pro­duced by Allen­heads Con­tem­por­ary Arts

Dur­ing a res­id­ency in Allen­heads, a small rur­al vil­lage in the north of Eng­land, Coates asked res­id­ents to mim­ic the slowed down record­ings of bird­song com­mon to the area. They were filmed in their homes while singing along to these sounds.

The filmed foot­age and audio was then digit­ally sped up to the tempo of the ori­gin­al bird­song. As a res­ult, the resident’s voices were trans­formed into bird­song. The film also emphas­izes uncon­scious ges­tures that now, when sped up, appear uncan­nily sim­il­ar to the phys­ic­al move­ments of the birds.