The fifth Middlesbrough Art Week (2022) titled power POWER endeavoured to question how official power is wielded and how unofficial power is expressed.
LOL is a site-specific sonic intervention delivered through the public address system of Middlesbrough’s CCTV surveillance network, reflecting the current state of political affairs in Britain. On dedicated sites in the centre of town, passers-by heard political slogans, and news headlines read by the AI voice ‘Kate’.
LOL was broadcast at specific times over four days 22-25 September 2022.
Composed by Olivia Louvel, and produced in collaboration with Kersten Glandien, artistic director of Sound Art Brighton, an independent initiative that celebrates the presence of sound art in Brighton.
The three-part collage also includes a field recording ‘Climate Justice’ by Swiss artist Stefano Christen.
Commissioned by The Auxiliary, 2022.
Thank you to The Auxiliary’s directors Anna Byrne, Kyp Kyprianou, and Liam Slevin. Thank you to the Middlesbrough surveillance team for their participation.
With LOL, Olivia Louvel was awarded an Ivor Novello Award for Best Sound Art at The Ivors Classical Awards 2023.
The Ivors Academy jury remarked: “LOL is a provocative, disruptive and impactful work, deftly constructed with humour”.
Photos by Rachel Deakin
Read more https://www.olivialouvel.com/blog/lolmiddlesbroughartweekender
‘Shoppers left spooked after 'Boris Johnson sounding' voice is randomly played in town centre’, Yahoo News, 24 September 2022
‘An Apparition in Middlesbrough’, Disquiet, Marc Weidenbaum , 14 October 2022
Photography credit Hogan Media / Shutterstock