Temporal Rendering: The Orpheus Building is an audio documentary produced by artist Mark Orange exploring the Orpheus Building in Belfast, Northern Ireland—former home of the Co-Op department store, Belfast's celebrated Orpheus ballroom, and latterly the University of Ulster's Fine Art department.

The work is drawn from of a series of interviews conducted at the building just prior to its demolition in 2016; interviewees include former Co-Op shoppers and staff, showband musicians, architectural historians, and art students. The recordings are edited together into a layered audio documentary that moves sequentially through the spaces of the Orpheus, foregrounding the building's nature as conduit of time and memory, and exploring some of the questions around heritage and regeneration surrounding its loss.

The work was first presented as an FM transmission from an antenna mounted on the roof of the main university building across the street from the Orpheus; FM Walkman headsets were made available for visitors to listen to the audio as the demolition of the building progressed before them.

Further information here.

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Special thanks to all who participated in the recordings:

Alastair Adair, Alison Andrews, Alice Burns, Elizabeth Caffrey, Mike Catto, Muriel Day, Jackie Diven, Jim & Louie Elwood, Emmanuel Flanagan, Jackie Flavelle, Rita Harkin, Declan Hill, Lorraine Irwin, George Jones, Alastair MacLennan, Damian Magee, Andrew McClelland, Donald McFetridge, Nuala McKeever, Barbara McManus, Marcus Patton, Mark Reid, Tom Robinson, Sam Tyler, Norman Waterworth, Emily Wilson.

Additional thanks to:

Michelle Ashmore, Jan Carson, Catalyst Arts, Marian Ferguson, Hugh Mulholland, David Hull, Alexey Janes, Daniel Jewesbury, Tim Kerr, Marion Khorshidian, Louis & Mary Orange, Kim Mawhinney, Catherine and Colin McCaughey, Lisa McCormick, Malcolm McDowell, Mary McIntyre, Feargal O'Malley, Laura Pattison, Eileen Shields, Sarah Tuck.

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Music composed by Igor Stravinsky. 'Epitaphium', Arthur Gleghorn, Dorothy Remsen, Kalman Bloch & Igor Stravinsky; 'Movements for Piano and Orchestra', Charles Rosen, Columbia Symphony Orchestra & Igor Stravinsky; 'Cantata: A Sermon, A Narrative and a Prayer', CBC Symphony Orchestra, Igor Stravinsky, John Horton, Loren Driscoll & Shirley Verrett; 'Requiem Canticles', Columbia Chamber Orchestra with the Ithaca College Chamber Orchestra: Conducted by Robert Craft under the supervision of Igor Stravinsky - © 1991 Sony Classical, ℗ SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT. 'Three Songs from William Shakespeare', Ann Murray, Pierre Boulez & Ensemble InterContemporain - © & ℗ 2010 Deutsche Grammophon.

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Temporal Rendering: The Orpheus Building was an Ulster University public art commission and was originally presented as part of the Festival of Art and Design at the School of Art, Ulster University, Belfast, March 8–11, 2016. © Mark Orange, 2016.