Move it, touch it, feel the rhythm & do it

At the end of August 2006 Mythstories museum of myth and fable unveiled three innovative takes on telling stories without the written word.  NESTA (the National Endowment for Science Technology and the Arts) funded Move It, Touch It, Feel The Rhythm & Do It so the museum could explore uncharted waters in storytelling.

Move It led to the commissioning of automata artist John Grayson to create five automata which told key kinetic moments in the Ramayana not previously illustrated in the museums collection of paintings from the story.  John worked with life skills students from Shrewsbury College of Arts And Technology who effectively were the commissioning body; after hearing the story alongside the museums paintings they chose the key moments to be depicted and described the scenes in detail to John.

Touch It led to the commissioning of clay artist Neil Dalrymple by Learning Support Groups from year seven and eight at Adams School in Wem to expand the exhibit in the museum on the Epic of Gilgamesh.  Neil produced eight tactile clay relief tablets to the pupils' specifications so visitors can now experience feeling the story unfold at the tips of their fingers.

The Feel The Rhythm installation uses soundscapes to tell stories from the South American Rainforests.  Percussionist/Musician Rick Wilson worked to put into sound the responses of reception pupils from Whitchurch (Shropshire) Infants School to the three South American stories.

Mythstories also added various interactive exhibits to allow their visitors to explore the stories in more detail under the Do It strand of the grant.

Below is an example of one of the Soundscapes and elsewhere on the website you’ll find photos of the clay tablets HERE or HERE, and the automata; number one, number two, number three & number four and five.  But, of course, you won't be able to Move It, Touch It, Feel The Rhythm & Do It that's only available to visitors who undertake the journey to rural North Shropshire.

There is a story told in the Amazon and Orinoco rainforests of a beautiful city which was taken to the river bed by the river god.  To keep the hustle and bustle of the city streets the god turned all the city's inhabitants into pink river dolphins (fresh water dolphins with pink skins and, unusually, long necks). The city's leader, Bufeo Colorado, can emerge from the waters and shapeshift into human form.  He wears a white linen suit and a straw hat to cover his blow-hole, and he loves to go to loud, noisy parties.  When he's there he charms all the girls and women and tells them of his marvellous city, and they just can't help themselves they just have to follow him there. The entranced females follow him into the river's waters and maybe they turn into pink dolphins too; or maybe they don't!

The story and soundscape above are part of Feel The Rhythm created in summer 2006 by percussionist Rick Wilson, children from Whitchurch Infants School and storytellers from Mythstories museum.

The children looked at pictures of rainforests...

listened to rainforest sounds...

experimented with making sounds...

heard the stories...

decided what sounds reminded them of the stories...

...and let Rick record them playing instruments, making rhythms and speaking.

Rick Wilson took these sounds and created the soundscapes you can hear in the museum today.

If you want to read an evaluation of what the children got out of this part of the project click HERE.

Or if you want to view a summary of what the three artists and museum visitors got from the project click HERE.