Shrewsbury artist brings immersive installation to Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings

The team at Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings has been working with the light and sound artist from Belle Vue, to record local people saying the names of some of the many Flaxmill workers and their families who were registered on censuses in the 1800s.

The concept which began in 2022, was an installation, primarily audio involving a large number of people saying the names of people who either worked at the Flaxmill or were involved with the site and related to the 1831 census.

Penny Ward an archive volunteer created a list of 2080 names and the project was subsequently named ‘Flaxmill Voices’ and will be completely free to visit over three days 27 – 29 September.

Andy has been recording individual voices at local schools including Mount Pleasant and Greenfields primaries as well as at Shrewsbury Colleges Group.

To mark their support and inclusion of the project, when a person records a name in the sound booth on site, they are given a card with the name of the person and are being invited to bring it back when the installation is on and ‘clock on’ on to a board with it as workers would have once done.

The board will be glazed and kept as a record of both the project and the census names and displayed at the Flaxmill, which dates from 1797.

Award-winning artist Andy McKeown, who has a studio in Shrewsbury, has completed many large-scale light and sound projects throughout the UK and internationally including Digital Graffiti Festival in Florida and Nuit de Lampions Wiltz, in Luxembourg and over 500 shows and installations throughout the UK including Blackpool Illuminations,  Mayflower 400 (Southampton) and many Cathedrals and churches including York Minster, Liverpool Cathedral, Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral, Lichfield Cathedral, Shrewsbury Market Hall, Nottingham Castle, Bolsover Castle, Ludlow Castle, Powis and Chirk Castles and Attingham Mansion.

Andy has a long association with Shrewsbury Flaxmill and is returning this month with his 12th installation, an immersive sound installation of the recorded names in the Flaxmill Dyehouse over three days, accompanied by an immersive light installation.

Simon Cranmer, Head of Visitor Experience at Shrewsbury Flaxmill Maltings, said: “We are delighted to be working with Andy and the culmination of this project will mark several years of planning. By saying the name of the person, we are recording their place in the history of the site and then keeping a permanent record with the board.

“Flaxmill Voices is an important project for us, which not only helps to record and remember some of the many thousands of people involved with the Flaxmill over its long history, but it also forms part of the culmination of celebration projects to mark the end of the six-year £28m restoration project of the buildings.”

From 27 - 29 September, 12 projectors will wrap the Dye House interior with a continuously changing live mix of shadows and texts, and visitors covered will be covered with moving words in an immersive experience. Outdoors, the South Engine House will be covered by names flowing upwards.

Andy said: “The original commission was for sound but to the launch the project we brought back images from earlier installations capturing the buildings before renovation and the culmination of the Flaxmill Voices project will be an immersive sound field and light installation mixing words, shadows and image fragments.

“Additional recording of names will take place in a sound booth in the Dye House during each afternoon (from 12 until 4pm) and those who have already recorded can return to ‘clock on’ on a board with the card they received. This board will then be preserved, becoming a work in its own right.”

The projections and sound installations will take place from 7pm to 10pm on Friday 27th, Saturday 28th and Sunday 29th September 2024, with some small form projections also in the Dye House in the daytime, from 12 noon to 4pm.

To celebrate the opening evening, the Turned Wood Café will be open for drinks and cakes from 7pm to 9pm on Friday 27th September, with live music provided by local musicians Andy Lowe and Benedict Johnson.