The palimpsests were interesting enough in their own right, but after the success of the focus group I felt that it was their interrelation with the recordings that created the most interesting body of work.
I even imagined that instead of objects forming a final exhibition, it might simply be audio. It would probably be in the form of an audio guide, like you would find in a museum which would affect the way you would experience the museum artefacts you saw. It seemed reasonable that the diversity of experts I had already recorded would form a striking collection of voices making their comments.
With this new idea in mind I met with Chris Slowe, a representative for Secularism and repeated the interview process, tweaking it from what I had noticed from the LCoF. I went on to interview representatives from Visual and Material culture studies, Interpretive studies, Ecology, Folklore, an artist working with Complexity theory, and even a representative for transport. In total I created more than eight hours of audio material, which was to cause many a throbbing headache during editing!
Another headache was that the quality of the recordings was poor. It is the bane of most artists that we are jack-of-all-trades, and in my case I had little experience in audio recording before I set out. I had bought a decent studio condenser mic, but the ambient noise in the LCoF recordings, and the microphones inability to hear distinct voices if someone is speaking in the background made it all but a write-off. I had been aware of this after the first experience and had first gone to quieter and more 'sound proof' spaces with lots of soft furnishings. But the recordings were already inconsistent, so I went ahead and recorded the later interviews in public places like in parks or again in the New Walk Museum. After much thought on the subject and though seeking advice from several colleagues (including Jennie Syson who was most helpful). I decided to create a museum audio guide of either my own voice or that of an actor. It would probably have a certain dead-pan quality, but would involve 're-expressing' the comments made by the recorded experts, but where the personal and cultural identity and the emotions of the original commentators are anonymous.
Another stroke of luck was that the head of the New Walk Museum (and in fact responsible for all of the museums) was an ecologist, and he had agreed to be interviewed for the project. This was an uncomfortable process for me, and he was the man who had said 'no'. Despite this he helped to produce a really interesting set of recordings, and showed great interest in the issues the project raised, especially concerning the LCoF input and the way the general public can relate to their own archaeology. To my bemusement it was also agreed that I would submit an exhibition application form as it fitted well with the museums future plans.
