Antiphonal

Antiphonal is a two site multi-channel audio installation of poetry and field recordings created by Tom Schofield. Twelve poems were commissioned in response to the return of the Lindisfarne gospels to the North East. The installation, cuts, layers and remixes the poems over a backdrop of field recordings to create an immersive experience of poetry.

The first site is a watch tower on the Holy Island of Lindisfarne in the North East of the UK. The tower has panoramic views around the island and surrounds. The second site is a crypt beneath the Parish Church of Saint Aiden in Bamburgh.

The project features work by twelve poets including Gillian Allnutt, Linda Anderson, Peter Armstrong, Peter Bennet, Colette Bryce, Christy Ducker, Alistair Elliot, Linda France, Cynthia Fuller, W.N.Herbert, Pippa Little, and Sean O’Brien

The poems from the installation are published in the anthology Shadow Script which is available to purchase here.

The piece was commissioned and supported by the Newcastle Centre for the Literary Arts and would not have been possible without the invaluable assistance of the following people and numerous others:

Linda Anderson (director of the NCLA)
W.N. Herbert with whom the poems were mixed and cut.
Stevie Ronnie with whom many of the early concepts were discussed.
Benjamin Freeth and Peter Evans who installed the work and contributed to the technical and aesthetic development.