The ghosts of our sporting lives
Oct 06, 2020, 07:20 PM
Hillsborough football crowd reimagined by Cities and Memory.
As we record this in the middle of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, the thought of being part of a crowd of any kind, let along a large sports crowd like this, is a far-off dream, and it's almost hard to remember how we lived like that in these days of social distancing and isolation.
This piece starts with the full football crowd, and uses sound to slowly smear and wipe them away, blurring their chants all over the soundscape like polish onto a mirror. When we've finished cleaning, though, the fans have all disappeared, and we're left with the sound of the game of football being played in an empty stadium, in front of no fans as it is at this moment.
As we record this in the middle of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, the thought of being part of a crowd of any kind, let along a large sports crowd like this, is a far-off dream, and it's almost hard to remember how we lived like that in these days of social distancing and isolation.
This piece starts with the full football crowd, and uses sound to slowly smear and wipe them away, blurring their chants all over the soundscape like polish onto a mirror. When we've finished cleaning, though, the fans have all disappeared, and we're left with the sound of the game of football being played in an empty stadium, in front of no fans as it is at this moment.