Sounding the Angel was a Newcastle University project, supported by the Catherine Cookson Foundation, which aimed to capture through sound the memorial site at The Angel of the North in Gateshead. I worked in collaboration with sound artist David de la Haye.
Since The Angel of the North was installed twenty-five years ago, the trees nearby have become a spontaneous grassroots memorial where people leave messages and tokens for their loved ones. We have produced a shared story about the objects that are left there and what The Angel means to those who leave objects at the memorial site.
A key part of the project was the recording of conversations with people who leave memorial objects at The Angel. Extracts from these conversations were combined with field recordings that documented the different seasons at the site to make a sound work. This was exhibited in the Arches Sound Project at Newcastle University in July and December 2024 , and those listening to it were able to see Antony Gormley’s ‘Clasp’ sculpture, which was installed nearby to mark the twentieth anniversary of The Angel of the North. David and I also gave an Insights public lecture to share the results of the project beyond the university.
The project communicated the significance of the memorial to others, as well as preserving a record of it that can be taken into the future. The conversations enabled us better to understand The Angel of the North site from the perspective of those who visit it.
You can listen to the sound piece here.
Blog posts relating to this project can be found here.
You can access the public lecture about the project here.
You can contact me on: anne.whitehead@newcastle.ac.uk