Our Time - Gravesend

Marcus Coates’ Our Time places the songs and calls of locally threatened bird species onto 6 clock towers along the North Kent coastline. The work can be heard as clocks chime on the hour. Marking these moments will be the beautiful and enigmatic songs and call of species such as the nightingale, curlew, lapwing, cuckoo, and turtle dove.

The idea is to relocate what is being lost to the regional and national environment at the heart of our civic centres, and to communicate the implications of ‘our’ human time, a period in history that has seen mass extinction, that has been orientated to human progress at the expense of other species, even on a very local level. These ornate clocks represent our social and political aspirations, they command respect and give our towns an identity and civic focus.

The use of birdsong that may not be heard in the wild for much longer to mark our time is a cynical and ironic act, but one that might help us become aware of their beauty and potential absence.

Our Time is installed in clock towers in Dartford, Gravesend, Rochester, Faversham, Herne Bay, and Margate. In Gravesend, it can be heard at Gravesend Clock Tower, 152 Milton Road, DA12 2RG between 6:00 - 23:00.

Schedule of songs and calls

06:00 Yellow wagtail
07:00 Spotted flycatcher
08:00 Mistle thrush
09:00 Lapwing
10:00 Marsh tit
11:00 House sparrow
12:00 Song thrush
13:00 Cuckoo
14:00 Swift
15:00 Tree sparrow
16:00 Corn bunting
17:00 Skylark
18:00 Starling
19:00 Ringed plover
20:00 Turtle Dove
21:00 Curlew
22:00 Grey partridge
23:00 Nightingale

The recordings have been supplied by field recordist, natural history author and sound artist, Geoff Sample.

Photo: Jonathan Juniper