Temporal Rendering: The Orpheus Building, 2016
Temporal Rendering: The Orpheus Building, 2016
Installation with 54 min audio piece, FM transmission, portable radios

An installation based around an extended audio piece that takes the form of a radio documentary exploring the Orpheus Building in Belfast: former home of the Co-Op department store, Belfast's celebrated Orpheus ballroom, and latterly the University of Ulster's Fine Art department. In March 2012 the University announced plans to demolish the building as part of the redevelopment of its Belfast campus.

Temporal Rendering: The Orpheus Building is drawn from of a series of recordings made at the building as its demolition loomed in 2015; interviews were conducted with a range of people who had used the building over the years, including former Co-Op shoppers and staff, showband musicians, architectural historians, and art students. The recordings were edited together into a layered audio documentary that moves sequentially through the spaces of the Orpheus, foregrounding the building's nature as conduit of time and memory, and exploring some of the questions around heritage and regeneration surrounding its loss.

The work was presented as an FM transmission from an antenna mounted on the roof of the main university building across the street from the Orpheus; FM Walkman headsets were made available for visitors to listen to the audio as the demolition of the building progressed before them.

Excerpt (from interview with Norman Waterworth):



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