Words of detained poets inspire new work at Edinburgh Art Festival

By Kristeen Paterson | The National

The sound installation by India’s Shilpa Gupta was unveiled yesterday at the city’s Engine House venue, part of Edinburgh College of Art.

It includes 100 microphones suspended above the same number of metal rods, each of which pierces a page inscribed with a fragment of poetry.

Visitors taking in the multi-channel artwork can hear excerpts of the words of featured writers in languages 

that include Russian, Turkish, English, Chinese and Urdu.

All of those selected for inclusion have been detained during a period spanning hundreds of years.

They include Maung Saunghka, whose Facebook post on the former president of Myanmar made him one of the first political activists detained in Myanmar after Aung San Suu Kyi came to power in April 2016.

26 July 2018