The Sound of the Stage

The Sound of the Stage is a light and sound installation created by Kristian Kirkwood and Alfie Ropson for Youth Landscapers Collective’s 2023 Stage of Possibility. These two young artists have been part of YLC for six and nine years, respectively, and The Sound of the Stage is a beautiful retelling of the history of the group, and the artists, over that time. Kristian drew on sound recordings from past YLC projects including the YLC podcast, 2020’s lockdown project The View From My Window, 2021’s Telling of the Bees, and the soundtrack he created for 2022’s The Underneath and combined them with more of his own new sounds and music. Alfie then responded to this sonic landscape with custom programmed lights, reflecting the mood and pace of the sound in colour and movement.

This work marks not only the group’s growth but that of Kristian and Alfie personally. Both are now studying related fields at university and have taken on more adult responsibility within YLC as Project Assistant and members of YLC’s governing youth body. In many ways, both artists have expressed that this work is an emotional document of what it is to pass from childhood to adulthood.