On Chorus by Christopher Steenson

On Chorus is a national public sound artwork by Christopher Steenson that broadcast field recordings of Dublin's inner-city spring dawn chorus across Ireland, using Ianród Eireann's network of train station PA systems. These sounds were played every morning between 8am and 9am, from 16 November to 29 November 2020.

By transmitting the sounds of lockdown, the artwork sought to highlight the use of listening as a connecting act during times of social distancing, as well as using sound as a way of ‘listening to the future’ and imagining new architectures for cohabitation between human and non-human species.

This artist LP collects two field recordings made by Steenson, which document the birdsong being transmitted in two Irish train stations. Side A features a recording from Friday 20 November 2020 at Dublin Connolly Station. Side B features a recording of Dún Laoghaire Station on Sunday 29 November 2020. The LP is pressed on 180g black recycled vinyl, and is housed in a gatefold package designed by the artist.

An 8-page booklet features 35mm photographs taken by Steenson during the artwork's creation, as well as a specially commissioned text by visual artist Ann Maria Healy, which uses the format of an LP lyric sheet to expound on ideas related to potential futures, hyper-reality and communal listening.

Christopher Steenson is an Irish artist, whose work forges ways of 'listening to the future', by using field recording, photography and writing as his materials. He is primarily concerned with the shifting elements of our environment, such as declining wildlife populations and the climate crisis, and the entangled role of human activity within these changes.

christophersteenson.com