Fleet

lots of paper boats hang from the ceiling in an atrium in the formation of a wave

2006

A site-specific installation commissioned by The Lowry

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
people look at paper boats hanging from the ceiling in an atrium

Fleet Salford 2008 photo by David Harradine

Commissioned by The Lowry at Salford Quays for the gallery exhibition The Art of White, Fleet was an installation of paper boats and specially commissioned soundscapes, inspired by the history of the Quays as a departure and arrival point for countless ships, boats and barges.

The boats, each hand folded from a single sheet of paper, were suspended high above the public foyer space at The Lowry. As spectators moved through and around the space the installation offered multiple points of view before revealing that the individual boats sailed as a fleet, itself echoing the shape of each individual vessel.

Spectators also wore infra-red headphones which tuned in and out of connection with a series of soundscapes that combined an original music score, a deconstruction of the shipping forecast and a specially commissioned poem to evoke the bustle and chaos of the quays when they were still an industrial workplace.

 
lots of paper boats hang from the ceiling in an atrium

Fleet Salford 2008 photo by David Harradine

 
 

Meet the team

Concept, design & sound: Sam Butler
Concept, design, sound & text: David Harradine 
Installation assistant: Sally Richardson
Production manager: Ali Beale 
Sound engineer: Peter Cudmore 
Sound & music: David Leahy
Voiceover: Carl Patrick, Huxley Robinson Butler

 

Commissioned By

 

The Lowry

 
Installation2006, The sea, Place