Susan Philipsz: Timeline - Edinburgh Festival Guide

Turner Prize winning artist Susan Philipsz works exclusively with sound, drawing upon the architectural settings of her interventions to sculpt intensely intimate moments.

A multi-site sound installation, Timeline is the artist’s first ever exhibition in Scotland’s capital and is developed in response to one of Edinburgh’s most iconic landmarks: the One O’Clock Gun.

In April 1861, to ensure the timing of the One O’Clock Gun was accurate, a squad of sailors hung an electrical cable between the Time ball at the Nelson Monument and Edinburgh Castle three quarters of a mile away. Around the same time a map was produced to show the time taken for the sound of the gun to be heard at different points across the city.

Philipsz’ Timeline traces this now invisible line in a succession of short sound recordings installed across the city. Referencing both the mythical sirens of Homer’s Odyssey, and the invention of the first siren by Edinburgh’s John Robison, Philipsz’ voice will call out each day in response to the firing of the gun, creating a domino effect as each speaker sounds in turn along the timeline from Calton Hill to Edinburgh Castle.