Output details

Lexicon (2012 - Wellcome Trust project)

LEXICON for 8-channel fixed sound with video (also stereo and audio-only versions)

The project

The LEXICON project was funded by the Wellcome Trust's 'Engaging Science' programme, which promotes public engagement with biomedical science through the arts. It supported a collaboration between composer Andrew Lewis and a team of dyslexia scientists from the Miles Dyslexia Centre, Bangor University, led by Dr Markéta Caravolas.

The project sought to achieve these aims through the creation of a new audiovisual artwork involving 8-channel fixed sound and HD video, and to disseminate this artwork through a UK tour, through publication on video sharing sites (as stereo + video), and on CD (as stereo audio only). It also supported dissemination through auxiliary means such as pre-concert talks, printed leaftets/posters, media coverage and a web site.

The piece

The piece was based on a poem written by a 12-year old boy, Tom, in which he tries to articulate his personal experience of dyslexia. By presenting an imaginary sonic and visual journey through the text of the poem, LEXICON tries to convey the challenge that faces many with dyslexia, while simultaneously questioning the concept of 'error'.

LEXICON draws inspiration from recent research in dyslexia, in particular the growing evidence that, for many with dyslexia, a deficit in phonological processing is more significant than that in visual or attentional processing on their own. This contradicts the popular but less well supported notion that dyslexia is primarily about difficulties in seeing letters and words on the page. Accordingly, LEXICON is a work conceived primarily with sound as its raw material, with the visual aspect conveying a metaphorical rather than scientific view of the experience of dyslexia.

http://www.bangor.ac.uk/music/lexicon