GETTING INTO HOT WATER
SONIC LIGHTHOUSE
Sonic Lighthouse 1
Call to The Fishes: Hinkley Point C
April 2024
The Severn estuary is an important habitat for all sorts of creatures, fishes in particular, salmon and eel specifically.
Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant, which is currently under construction will suck huge amounts of water from the estuary and Bristol Channel into it's cooling systems taking hundreds of thousands of fish with it and killing them in the process.
The first solution to this problem proposed by EDF, the plant developers was to install 300 underwater sound projectors which would have 'boomed noise louder than a jumbo jet' into the sea to deter fish from entering the intake pipe. However, this idea was abandoned out of concern for the divers who would have to install and maintain the system in the dangerous, fast-flowing waters and the impact the noise would have on porpoises, seals and whales.
Accepting the loss of tonnes and tonnes of fishes, EDF's proposed 'compensation' is to create a new salt marsh along the nearby River Parrett on wildlife-rich grassland managed by local landowners. This has not gone down well either!
So it seems the fish will just have to be sacrificed in the name of progress...
We were appalled and distressed by this so embarked on a 'very dangerous field trip' to Hinkley Point with our friend and poet 'Roving Rick'. We call to the fishes through our Sonic Lighthouse apparel, both warning them of the impending danger and yearning for those who are yet to be lost .
We made a radio programme for our regular show, Radio Public on Resonance FM based on our adventures which can be heard here
We also made a film which was first shown as an art installation at CoLab Dudley on 17th April 2024. The work included our Sonic Lighthouse apparel, suspended paper fishes and a quadraphonic soundtrack.
Images from the Sonic Lighthouse installation at CoLab Dudley, April 2024
4th World Congress of Psychogeography
Canterbury 2024
Fish headdress created by Elena Thomas
In September 2025 we took Sonic Lighthouse to the 4th World Congress of Psychogeography at the University of Canterbury. Our installation filled the whole lecture theatre, engaging audiences with the 'Call to the Fishes' film and quadrophonic soundtrack.
Lively discussion took place at three artist talks we gave during the congress, with appreciation for our critical engagement with a little-known issue.
CHAIN REACTION
Between September 2024 and June 2025 Sonic Lighthouse has slowly but inorexably transformed into an artistic method. A kind of chain reaction is happening whereby the energy and learning from the previous event causes the next one, a positive feedback situation of self-perpetuating amplification...
This reflects the nuclear reaction process going on at Hinkley Point C and the molecular arrangement of long chain carbon atoms with fluorine atoms in the 'forever chemicals' we have also become interested in.