Turner prize winner Susan Philipsz will unveil her most ambitious work that has been specially commissioned by 14-18 NOW to mark the centenary of the the First World War. It will be on display in Duveen Galleries at Tate Britain from the 21st November to the 3rd April 2016.
Titled War Damaged Musical, the installation uses recordings of ‘”The Last Post” on a range of brass and woodwind instruments which have been damaged in different conflicts.
The 14 part recording features damaged British and German instruments playing isolated tones from the military bugle call ‘The Last Post’, which signalled to lost and wounded soldiers that fighting had ceased. It has taken several years to complete and forms part of the ongoing commemorations for the First World War centenary.
Talking about her piece Susan Philipsz said: “I have focused on the brass and woodwind family, as these instruments need the human breath to produce the sound. I am less interested in creating music than to see what sounds these instruments are still capable of, even if that sound is just the breath of the player as he or she exhales through the battered instrument. All the recordings have a strong human presence.”
The artist is well known for her immersive sound environments. Winner of the Turner Prize in 2010, the artist was also shortlisted for Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award that same year. She is represented in several major museum collections, including Tate and the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, and in recent years her work has been exhibited at the Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2014); Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (2013); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2011) and Museum Ludwig, Cologne (2009).
Visitors will be able to experience the piece at Tate Britain from the 21st November until the 3rd April 2016.