Gongs of Teesside: Forging Collaborations

Project team

Professor Sarah Irwin (Sociology and Social Policy)

Nell Catchpole (Artist-in-Residence, Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art)

Tees Valley Museums

Project overview

Our project is a collaboration between Sarah Irwin, Professor of Sociology, and sound artist Nell Catchpole, Artist-in-Residence at Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art, in partnership with Tees Valley Museums. Gongs from locally sourced steel will be made with blacksmiths at a forge where we bring together other local ‘elders’ and young adults who will document the gong making using creative audio/visual techniques. We will explore the literal, and metaphorical, resonances of steel gongs and their links to local histories of steel, young people’s voice, and creative aspirations. It is part of a wider project in which we explore how young citizens engage with place-based social and environmental changes through a series of ecological sound art activities and their documentation. The young adults will co-curate a ceremonial semi-public sounding of the gongs and contribute to an exhibition, highlighting cross-generational stories of place, affect and social continuity and change.