'40 Days and 40 Nights' - A Creative Exploration of the Effects of Climate Change on Flooding in Cork County

 '40 Days and 40 Nights' - A Creative Exploration of the Effects of Climate Change on Flooding in Cork County

“40 Days and 40 Nights” is part audio artwork part audio documentary and took its inspiration from, and is, an exploration of the effects of climate change on flooding in County Cork. Undertaken by composer Ian Wilson, it includes interviews with people - mainly Cork-based - who have knowledge of the causes of flooding (climatologists, meteorologists); who are working to mitigate them (engineers), and who have direct experience of flooding (e.g. business- and home-owners) in order to build up a clear picture of cause and effect as well as obtain ideas about what can be done to mitigate or avert future flooding events.

Fragments of the interviews are an essential part of the audio work, which also includes field recordings. The soundtrack was mixed, processed and edited to make a musicalized element which ‘plays’ with its component parts in order to avoid being ‘only’ an informative audio document. Rather, this musicalized component is intended to be stimulating to ear and brain through the way it presents its narrative elements through use of repetition, sound processing, and how it combines different recorded elements. Funded through Cork County Council as part of the Creative Ireland Programme, ’40 Days and 40 Nights’ can be listened to at: https://soundcloud.com/wilsonkul/40-days-and-40-nights-1