Artistic Sonic Horns

I'm generally not given to wandering around art galleries (any free time I have is absorbed by a passion for cooking and big band jazz!) but I was passing Tullie House Museum & Art Gallery in Carlisle recently when a poster for an unusual art exhibition caught my eye. Entitled "Underwater" it looked a little unusual and rather interesting. So I ventured in.

The premise of the exhibition was clear .... artistic efforts by a range of contemporary artists to capture the essence of life beneath the oceans and remind us of our origins.

The art forms were certainly not of any standard type but varied and fascinating - from videos to drawings and photographs and there was even a motorized model submarine struggling to escape the clutches of a giant squid!

I walked around the quiet gallery, intrigued by all that I saw and then, as I wandered to the very back of the exhibition, I began to hear noises. I gravitated towards where the sound was coming from. As I stood at the entrance to this particular room, I was stopped in my tracks by what I saw ........... it was a series of sonic horn shaped, metallic horns suspended from the ceiling, eminating underwater recordings of fish and other sea creatures.


I walked around the room and in between the horns. It was a unique experience both visually and aurally. All credit to the artist Klaus Osterwald for his creativity.

Proof that art and engineering can combine to inspire!