A response to the coronavirus pandemic, the City of Ballarat's latest user-generated art project invites residents to phone a special 1300 number and say or do whatever they like for three minutes, which will then become part of a musical work.
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The 1300 ROAR project encourages people to "yell, read a poem, whisper" to an anonymous message bank - a producer and musician will take the result in mid-October to begin working on the end result.
The voices recorded will be indistinguishable, creating a "dull hum" with no words discernible once the file has been processed and compressed, with the sound being used to create "a soundscape or a piece of music designed to lift spirits and encapsulate this important time", according to a media release.
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Council confirmed $5500 from the Arts and Culture program will fund the project, which will "support of our fragile creative industries, as well as providing valuable and important ways for the community to engage with the creative sector, while also taking care of the city's wellbeing".
Could the finished project sound like the famous Disintegration Loops, by William Basinski - released as a response to the September 11 attacks? Listen below
A Ballarat-based digital composer has already been selected, following an expressions of interest process, but council did not name them.
"We have selected a candidate from Ballarat who also has international experience and sophisticated skills, and we have paired them with an emerging artist from Ballarat who has only recently started out on their composing career," a council media statement reads.
The service also has the capacity to connect residents to Lifeline should they need to speak directly to a person about what they are feeling.
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"There is a significant psychological component to the recovery we will need to undertake as a city," mayor Ben Taylor said in a statement.
"We understand that our community needs to have an avenue to voice their emotions - whether they are feeling frustration, sadness, grief, hope or joy. The 1300 ROAR project gives everyone an outlet to express their emotions in a healthy and productive way."
To try it out, phone 1300 728 760
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