Speeds of Time is a live sound sculpture by the Californian artist Bill Fontana, with some help from Radio 4. "You will hear Big Ben making music with itself," says the artist.
It's a live sound feed from six microphones, most dramatic as Big Ben strikes. The art is in the delay, the result, of course, of the speed of time.
Bill Fontana has used the BBC microphone at Big Ben, used in the six o'clock and midnight news bulletins on Radio 4. He's placed five of his own microphones on roofs around Westminster (see map below). The live feed brings together the sounds from all six locations.
The artwork can also be heard, if you're in London, in the Millbank foyer of Tate Britain. "You'll experience the sound of Big Ben not so much as a time signal, but more as a musical composition," says Bill Fontana. Speeds of Time continues for the whole of September.
1 Horse Guards parade and clock (two microphones) (1.75 sec delay)
2 The Treasury (0.74 sec delay)
3 Clock tower, Palace of Westminster (reference point, BBC Big Ben microphone)
4 Clock tower, Westminster Abbey
5 Arts Council England (1.4 sec delay)
6 BBC Westminster (mixing and relay point for webcast)
7 Tate Britain (sound sculpture in Millbank entrance)
