Concrete parabolic air-defence 'Sound Mirrors' were built at various sites on the UK coast between the First and Second World War. Their purpose was to function as an early warning system - a primitive acoustic version of Radar, to enable listeners to locate the sounds of attacking aircraft and ships. Experiences of danger place individuals in heightened states of physiological awareness, increasing sensitivity of the nervous system to a broad range of environmental cues... Human anxiety physically manifests as early warning systems - which dramatically extend perceptions in terms of distance, subtlety and bandwidth. With the onset of tactical obsolescence these systems are either abandoned or dismantled, leaving a remarkable architectural legacy, above and below ground.
Video by Barry Hale, concept and location research by Joe Banks, 1997.
