Is there anybody there?

Using recordings of ambient sound and interviews with students and staff, Output Arts have created an audio portrait of Senate House. The sounds are arranged to create a tension and drama not unlike that used in the horror film genre. A seance table and ouija board reference the Harry Price library and the paraphernalia of the occult. You are invited to sit at the table and ask the question: is there anybody there?

'Is there anybody there?' was commissioned for 'The Ghosts of Senate House', curated by Sarah Sparkes. Celebrated psychical researcher, expert amateur conjurer and paper bag salesman Harry Price, left his Library of Magical Literature to the University of London on his death in 1948. Artist Sarah Sparkes has been researching the Price bequest and is creating her own “Magical Library for the 21st Century”. Phase one of the Magical Library, 'The Ghosts of Senate House', is a collection of specially created writings, recordings and artworks documenting ghosts and other apocryphal stories emanating from Senate House and its immediate surrounds.

'Is there anybody there?' consists of a ouija board and planchette made specially for the piece. Electronics embedded in the board allows the position of the planchette to be determined. The participant is invited to put on headphones and to find and spell out a short hidden phrase on the ouija board with the planchette. While searching a soundtrack of layered voices is played; this builds in intensity creating a feeling of tension and pressure. On finding the correct letter the voices cut suddenly to a subtle piece of ambient audio recorded in Senate House, such as the wind howling through the building and someone turning the pages of a book in the library, or footsteps going down a staircase. Sudden moments such as the clanking of a clock mechanism add an element of surprise. As each letter is discovered in turn, the voices that accompany the act of searching become more insistent.

Output Arts would like to thank Sarah Sparkes and the staff and students of Senate House for their time, enthusiasm and voices in helping to create this installation.