Come Home Again – Es Devlin And Autograph At The Tate Modern

September-October ’22

We are delighted to be working again with the creative powerhouse that is Es Devlin, this time on her latest work which is presently at the Tate Modern in London. Come Home Again uniquely combines environmental themes with choral performances.

Our Special Events team, led by department head Andrew Hedges, provided the sound design and physical infrastructure to facilitate the audio element of the piece. Designed by Adam Taylor and Associate Joe Tate, the team also included Shane Kavanagh, (Special Events Production Sound Engineer) and David Cole (Production Engineer).

The project required the installation of two separate sound systems; one is installed discreetly within the dome itself and creates a fully immersive audio environment in which content created specially by Polyphonia recreates the sounds of over 200 animals throughout the day, all of which are named in a narration by Es Devlin.

The other system is also part of the structure but is used for evening performances by various choral groups for a live audience outside the dome. For this, Polyhonia’s Andy Theakstone analysed the reverberation characteristics of St Paul’s Cathedral and we have applied these to the live audio, giving the audience the impression that they are inside a very large and reverberant space, whilst actually outside!

Photo credit (above and title image): Daniel Devlin

Photo credit: Will Brown