30 Minutes of Listening

30 Minutes of Listening is an exhibition by award-winning UK artist Mark Peter Wright. Reimagining how we listen to and perceive place, the works presented draw specific inspiration and focus from the area South Gare: a designated site of special scientific interest in Redcar, Cleveland UK.

Taking one 30-minute period of listening in South Gare as its point of departure, the exhibition proposes possible ways of experiencing time and space in relation to this singular moment. Through film, sound, photography, objects and text, Wright examines the dialectical nature of listening and its potential to transgress both physical and mental territories of place and self.

The site from which the project draws is a Designated Site of Special Scientific Interest. Built between 1861 - 1884, this unique 2.5 mile stretch of man-made land acts as an essential breakwater between the North Sea and the Tees Mouth Harbor. A vital industrial passage for the region, the 'Gare' is now home to Europe's second largest blast furnace (Sahaviriya Steel Industries) and a coastline thriving with natural habitat.

Mark Peter Wright (born 1979, Kings Lynn). He studied at the London College of Communication, University of the Arts, London and Manchester Metropolitan University. He has exhibited and broadcast works internationally including Flat Time House, London; Barbican Centre, London; Queen Elizabeth Hall, South Bank Centre, London; British Library, London; Cabinet Magazine Gallery and on BBC Radio 3 and Resonance FM. In 2009 he was awarded the British Composer of the Year Award (Sonic Arts) for his work A Quiet Reverie, which premiered at IMT Gallery in 2008. In 2012 he was nominated for a Prix Ars Electronica award in Digital Musics & Sound Art. Wright is also the founder of Ear Room, an online publication exploring the use of sound in artistic practice.

30 Minutes of Listening, is supported by the Arts and Humanities Research Council and CRiSAP London.