Surveillance Songs was part of Ikon’s Inside Offsite programme and involved pupils from Handsworth Grammar School in a creative activity with artist Simon Blackmore whose work, Weather Guitar, was shown at Ikon.

Made from an acoustic Spanish guitar, Weather Guitar was fixed to a weather measuring system incorporating wires and handmade wind sensors. The sensors rotated to monitor environmental changes such as wind speed, rainfall intensity and wind direction. This information was translated into a mechanical action by six small motors with plectrums attached, plucking individual guitar strings.

Twelve students from the AS Level music group worked with Simon to develop two interactive sound exhibitions that were installed in the school in January 2007. The artworks comprised abstracted CCTV images recorded in the corridors of the school.  As the images changed, the movement of pupils around the school is interpreted as sounds and music.

This work was also exhibited alongside other works by Simon Blackmore, Steve Symons and Antony Hall in an exhibition called Audio Art Lab at the Turnpike Gallery in Leigh, near Manchester.

Funded by Creative Partnerships and the Paul Hamlyn Foundation.