The idea was for the collective to use free-standing outdoor aeolian harp instruments to capture a wind-song record of changing daily conditions in different coastal communities. It is a poetic database and time capsule of climate change as it was, and is, being experienced.
Each harp is a simple, tall tripodic structure with two courses of three strings, attached at the apex and tensioned over wooden bridges set across both ends of a large resonator, which is an empty tin or bucket open at one end or a similarly hollow resonator such as a polystyrene box. The closed end of the resonator acts as a membrane that amplifies harmonic frequencies generated by a flow of air that sets the strings into vibration. The resulting frequencies are transferred via a pair of angular wooden bridges to each end of the amplifying resonator. String tension is achieved by hanging up to 20kg of weight below the resonator or by tensioning the string column into the ground. Participants need only to source the three leg lengths for the tripod, about 3.5 metres of bamboo or timber. One of my wind harps, for example, uses three old long wooden rowing oars.