Sounds of Sunlight

I went to the Festival of Gardens at Westonbirt Arboretum last weekend. Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area.
Being a complete idiot and having forgot my camera I don’t have any photos, so you’ll have to look at the designs on the website for some impression of what’s there. Essentially its an annual showcase for garden designers. We went last year and it’s an interesting mix of the weird and wonderful.
The highlight for me this year was Andrew Stonyer’s Sounds of Sunlight. These were three sculptures suspended amongst the trees in the arboretum consisting of a photo-voltaic cell attached to an electric motor turning a small aluminium disc; attached to the discs were little loops of wires. Suspended above the wires were guitar strings. As the sun shone down through the trees, the discs turned and the wire loops “strummed” the guitar strings. The sculptures were attached to amplifiers so the effects could be heard for some distance through the trees; it was fun to watch people come looking for the source of the intermittent sounds.
Much cooler than wind chimes.