Uploaded March 2019 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago

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Rob Mackay discusses his audiovisual installation 'Flight of the Monarchs' at Ambient@40, a two-day conference to appraise ambient music in relation to Eno’s milestone release

"Music Beyond Airports", edited by Monty Adkins and Simon Cummings, available now in hardcopy and free PDF download via Huddersfield University Press: unipress.hud.ac.uk/plugins/books/19

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robmackay.net
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http://archives.electricspring.co.uk/...

This presentation took place as part of the Ambient@40 conference, conveyed by Monty Adkins, Simon Cummings, Rupert Till, and Kristina Wolfe.

In the forty years since the release of Brian Eno’s Music for Airports the concept and aesthetics of ambient music have proliferated, influencing artists as diverse as Taylor Deupree, Steven Wilson, David Lynch and The Orb, infusing drone, microsound, minimalism and experimental electronic music as well as aspects of contemporary instrumental music. The aim of this two-day conference was to appraise ambient music in relation to Eno’s milestone release.

The conference took place at the University of Huddersfield from Friday 23 to Saturday 24 February 2018, running alongside the Electric Spring Festival (www.electricspring.co.uk).

/// CREDITS

Video camera operator: Andie Brown, Pablo Galaz Salamanca, Sam Gillies
Video edited by Sam Gillies

Title music: Music for Airports (1/1), Brian Eno. Performed by Decibel New Music Ensemble. decibelnewmusic.com

///ABSTRACT

Flight of the Monarchs is an immersive audiovisual installation inspired by the incredible 3,000 mile journey that the Monarch butterfly takes each year from Canada to Mexico, finding warmer climes during the winter in order to roost.

The installation is set up to resemble a hide into which the viewer/listener can step inside and be transported to southern Mexico, surrounded with Monarch butterflies. The viewer/listener is surrounded by 4 video screens and 4 loudspeakers.

I recorded video and sound footage at the El Rosario reserve in Michoacan in 2015, trying to capture the beauty of these delicate butterflies and their surroundings. Video footage from Manuel Zirate is also featured in the top panel, and video editing was done by Jessica Rodriguez. The sound for the installation is comprised of three elements: Field recordings which capture the rushing sound of millions of tiny wings (as well as one or two tourists); a specially commissioned poem from Mexican poet Rolando Rodriguez (La Marcha de las Mariposas); and a recording of an improvisation session between myself (flute, ocarina), and musicians David Blink (hang), and John Sanders (accordion) which we conducted in the open air in Michaocan (this has been processed to create a dreamlike quality, reflecting the words of Rolando’s poetry).

The musical aspect of the work is heavily influenced by ambient music practice. The initial improvisation is present in the final mix, but it has been processed in a number of ways. Time-stretching of differing lengths was imposed (2x, 4x, 8x, 16x) and then these different versions superimposed over each other. This is a similar technique used by Brian Eno in his Music for airports, playing slowed-down loops of recorded instrumental material.

The relationship of the sound to the video material also shifts throughout the course of the installation. The video loops are all different lengths from each other and the sound element, therefore creating the shifting relationships. The effect is to create a sense of timelessness when experiencing the installation.

///BIOGRAPHY

Rob Mackay is a composer, sound artist and performer. He is currently a Senior Lecturer in Music at the University of Hull.

Recent projects have moved towards a cross-disciplinary approach, including geology, soundscape ecology, theatre, audiovisual installation work, and human-computer interaction. His work has been performed in 18 countries (including several performances on BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 1 and Radio France), and a number of his pieces have received international awards (Bourges (1997 and 2001), EAR (1999), La Muse en Circuit (2007)). He has held composer residencies at Slovak Radio (Bratislava), La Muse en Circuit (Paris), the Tyrone Guthrie Arts Centre (Ireland), Habitación del Ruido (Mexico City), and CMMAS (Morelia).

He is director of HEARO (Hull Electroacoustic Resonance Orchestra) and is editor for Interference, a journal of audio cultures. Several CDs and Vinyl are available including Rob’s Work.