Tacet

Tacet - full stereo mix for headphone listening.

‘Tacet’ -

A large-scale temporary installation for the Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2026

A temporary installation, ‘Tacet’, transforms the space beside Theatre Royal in York as part of the Listening Pitch commissions for Aesthetica Short Film Festival 2026. Conceived as an immersive exploration of sound, architecture and silence, the installation invites audiences to slow down and listen with heightened attention.

At the centre of the work is a monumental inflatable pavilion: a vivid burst of colour occupying a confined urban space. Rising to 7.5 metres, its sculptural form is defined by an array of deep-blue spikes, punctuated by a narrow, bright-red arched passage that cuts through the main body of the structure.

Inside, the passage becomes an intimate acoustic environment housing a 20-channel sound installation. Discrete speakers integrated into its walls encourage visitors to listen closely to the individual elements of a larger composition, moving from an awareness of sound as a whole towards the detail contained within each voice.

The six-minute vocal composition comprises 20 separate parts, each recorded within one of York’s 20 medieval church buildings. The same singer performs every part, creating a constant human presence across the recordings. What changes is the architecture: the unique acoustic character of each building shapes the sound, allowing the spaces themselves to become active participants in the composition.

The title ‘Tacet’ is drawn from musical notation, where the word is used as an instruction for a performer not to play — to remain silent. In ‘Tacet’, silence becomes equally important to the sound. Within the musical score, it is the pauses and absences that reveal the character of the architectural spaces in which the voices were recorded - the footsteps of other people in the building, the striking of clock chimes, the passing of distant traffic outside.

The work proposes that architecture is ultimately an experience of space. Walls, ceilings and structures do not simply enclose a building; they define and shape the space within it. In ‘Tacet’ this relationship is echoed by the pavilion itself. Its apparent solidity is created from air contained by textile, making the structure simultaneously architectural and ephemeral.

By bringing together the acoustic identities of York’s medieval churches within a contemporary inflatable structure, ‘Tacet’ creates a dialogue between the historic city and a temporary, highly visual intervention. Visitors encounter the installation first as a striking sculptural presence, then enter its red passage to discover an altogether more intimate experience: one in which listening becomes a way of perceiving space.