Conscious Void
Binaural Audio Installation and Textile Hanging, 2007.
The Upstairs Gallery, The City Gallery, Leicester.
Collaboration with Cat Preston

MA Fine Art Nottingham Trent University graduates Lucy Stevens and Cat Preston collaborated on a five- day exhibition at the Upstairs Gallery of The City Gallery to combine traditional textiles with binaural audio recordings.

Using the Upstairs Gallery of The City Gallery as a host, the installation allows visitors to interact with the physical environment by touching the textile hanging and moving through the shadows produced by the delicate and carefully cut flower design. Preston responds to the beauty of the traditional feminine craft and its endurance of creation, creating a textile divide within the gallery space.

The space behind the textile hanging invites the visitor to listen to binaural audio via stereo headphones. The spot lights and shadows act as a enclosure putting the visitor in a position of complete physical and mental immersion. The binaural audio was gathered on site at The City Gallery and from other locations, including Bridgford Park and the Nine Ladies Stone Circle to give a sense of transportation from inside to outside and much further away, as if accessing Stevens’ different memories all at once.