21 – 29 August, 2026
Winter Gardens
Sunderland Museum
Burdon Road
Sunderland, Tyne and Wear
Place a birdsong in the garden in memory of one you love.
About
“Memorial Birdsongs” is an interactive garden of natural music. Using their phones, visitors select a birdsong and painting for someone in their thoughts. They receive a digital memento and can visit the song on one of 50+ speakers in the garden. Over the course of the exhibition, the trees will fill with a growing community choir of birdsongs from around the world, each representing someone who is remembered and loved.
Background
With exhibitions in Hong Kong, France and Portugal, the garden comes to Northeast England and continues to show an innovative mix of new technologies, traditional crafts, and cultural meaning. Originally conceived as a shared public experience to heal from loss that could not be coopted for hostile or political rhetoric, in the garden everyone is welcome, but nature speaks for us and shows that we are not alone in missing someone dear.
Credits
Scott Hessels (artistic director) and his design studio FugitiveColor create public artworks that use technology for richer social participation, with frameworks that include interactive collaboration and immersive spaces. Based in Hong Kong, US and Portugal, his projects span different media including moving image, data visualization, kinetic sculpture, and site-specific installation. His artworks have been presented internationally in exhibitions focusing on both technology and Fine Art.
Portfolio: https://scotthessels.com
MetaObjects (web development and fabrication) is a digital studio based in Hong Kong and London that aims to facilitate digital production with artists and cultural institutions. Working across a range of media, the studio seeks to encourage the sharing of knowledge of new digital tools and processes. Through close collaborations, MetaObjects builds a deep understanding of the possibilities of new technologies to help realize projects to a high standard of production.
