A Million Keys

Operations of Sound


the Old Operating Theater


Tim Wainwright, Bonewax boxes from Harefield Hospital

Sound artist John Wynne and photographer Tim Wainwright debuted their new work FLOW yesterday at the Old Operating Theater in London, an original 19th century operating theater and museum. Inheritance Projects, a curatorial agency programming site-specific contemporary art projects in heritage museums, commissioned the piece specifically for the exhibition and event program Operations of Sound. FLOW incorporates both video and audio documentation from Wynne and Wainwright’s artist residency at the Harefield Hospital in Middlesex, a leading center for lung and heart transplantation. The artists spent the duration of their residency capturing the intricacies of the surgical environment and its impact on transplant patients and their families. They maintained a blog throughout, which can be found here. FLOW is installed in the room housing the museum’s collection of antique surgical equipment. Inheritance Projects will also use the theater to screen ITU, a surround sound and video piece filmed in the hospital’s Intensive Treatment Unit.

Operations of Sound will be on display until December 15th.