Meanwhile Hydrosiren

Hydrosiren (2017 )was a competitively awarded commission for the Canal and River Trust, London inc ollaboration with Rob Godman and produced by Modus Operandi Art Consultants. Built by Nelson and a large team of volunteers, Hydrosiren is a performative acoustic sculptural boat responding to the sights and sounds of the locality around Regents Canal and Meanwhile Gardens, West London. Its structure and ornament are a hybrid of the catamarans of the Māori Waka, Venetian Gondolas and River Boats (the Sàndolo da Barcariòl and Caorlìna) and various Polynesian forms. Powered by a single quanter (using a 4 meter bamboo quant pole), the vessel carries the singer and acoustic mirrors for collecting and projecting sound. The soundscape composed by Godman encompasses vocal, environmental (including hydrophone recordings of the aquatic life of the canal) and steel pan samples combined with the sound of the siren – the voice of soprano Elizabeth Karani.