Missorts by Tony White is a permanent public artwork for Bristol.
Missorts by Tony White is an immersive soundwork created for the Redcliffe area of Bristol that combines music and spoken word. The work features ten original and interconnected short stories by Sara Bowler, Holly Corfield Carr, Thomas Darby, Jack Ewing, Katrina Plumb, Jess Rotas, Hannah Still, Helen Thornhill, Isabel de Vasconcellos and Sacha Waldron. The stories unfold between Bristol Temple Meads and Redcliffe Bridge, near Thomas Chatterton’s birthplace and St Mary Redcliffe, and are accompanied by the Portwall Preludes, a series of striking new musical works specially composed by Jamie Telford for St Mary Redcliffe’s Harrison and Harrison church organ. Stories and music can be listened to in any order.
Missorts was originally designed as a GPS-triggered smartphone app that activated automatically in the Redcliffe area of Bristol, and could not be accessed anywhere else. This new browser-based version of the project can be listened to anywhere.
Sara Bowler
Thomas Darby
Helen Thornhill
Katrina Plumb
Hannah Still
Holly Corfield-Carr
Jack Ewing
Isabel de Vasconcellos
Jess Rotas
Sacha Waldron
by Jamie Telford
Missorts by Tony White (Beaty Heart’s extended reworking)
This bonus track was concealed unlisted as an ‘easter egg’ in the original Missorts app
Missorts Volume II is a novella by Tony White that was originally published as a free ebook to accompany the soundwork. A limited edition paperback of Missorts Volume II is also available to buy direct from Missorts’ producers Situations while stocks last.
Download as a free e-book.
Paul is a postman working nights at Bristol Temple Meads, while Ronnie does the missorts duty on the late shift. Oliver is a lecturer who makes an unexpected discovery about William Blake – and himself – in the archives. Jessica is a young woman seeking a kind of peace with the father who walked out on her when she was a child. Four Bristol lives that barely connect, but they have all been shaped by loves lost and letters found, and now they must each find their own way to write a reply.
‘White is our nimblest political novelist … there is always an engaging lightness of touch, a deft abilty to wind out stories that carry a freightload of edgy material with a beguiling ease. Missorts Volume II is no exception to this. It steps briskly out and quickly brings the reader the sorts of pleasures that only a writer at ease with his material and form can deliver … zippy, fluid and warm-hearted’
3am Magazine
In a short documentary commissioned by Situations, director David Bickerstaff charts the development and creation of the Missorts project, including interviews with Tony White, the contributing writers and composer Telford, as well as commentary from leading broadcaster and writer Michael Smith.
Situations by Tony White is an immersive soundwork created for the Redcliffe area of Bristol that combines music and spoken word. The work features ten original and interconnected short stories by Sara Bowler, Holly Corfield Carr, Thomas Darby, Jack Ewing, Katrina Plumb, Jess Rotas, Hannah Still, Helen Thornhill, Isabel de Vasconcellos and Sacha Waldron, written during a series of experimental writing workshops led by White at Bristol Records Office and on location in Redcliffe, Bristol, during 2012. The stories unfold between Bristol Temple Meads and Redcliffe Bridge, near Thomas Chatterton’s birthplace and St Mary Redcliffe, and are accompanied by the Portwall Preludes, a series of striking new musical works specially composed by Jamie Telford for St Mary Redcliffe’s Harrison and Harrison church organ in what was its centenary year. Inspired by Bristol’s radical literary heritage, Missorts reflects the past and present of the Redcliffe area of the city and the diversity of writings, objects and architecture that are found there.
Missorts was originally designed as a smartphone app, a continuous soundwork that activated automatically in the Redcliffe area of Bristol, and could not be accessed anywhere else. As the listener walked around Redcliffe, stories would be encountered, triggered by GPS in the locations where they were set, the overall experience shaped and edited by the listener’s own route through the project. Stories and music can be listened to in any order. In this new browser-based archive version of the project, the location-specific aspect of Missorts is lost, but the stories – and Telford’s Portwall Preludes – can now be listened to anywhere as individual tracks, without the need to download a special app.
‘Missorts is an art project devised by the novelist Tony White, alongside the Bristol based art organisation Situations. The project was commissioned by the Bristol Legible City initiative. Taking its cue from Bristol’s literary explorers such as its native authors Thomas Chatterton and Angela Carter, it is an intriguing adventure in the relationship between technology, art and the city. Guided by sounds, the city became a canvas for an alternative experience.’
New Statesman
Tony White’s latest novel is The Fountain in the Forest (Faber and Faber). He is the author of five previous novels including Foxy-T and Shackleton’s Man Goes South, and the non-fiction work Another Fool in the Balkans, as well as novellas and numerous short stories published in journals, exhibition catalogues, and anthologies. White was creative entrepreneur in residence in the French department of King’s College London, and has been writer in residence at London’s Science Museum and the UCL School of Slavonic and Eastern European Studies. He recently collaborated with artists Blast Theory on the libraries live-streaming project A Place Free Of Judgement, and currently chairs the board of London’s award-winning arts radio station Resonance 104.4fm.
Situations is an award-winning visual arts commissioning and publishing organisation based in Bristol, UK. The organisation is dedicated to the commissioning of outstanding artworks and projects in the public realm, which open up new forms of public engagement with contemporary art. We believe public art has the potential to create unforgettable and inspiring experiences, to be the beginning of a conversation which changes the way we think about and interact with the world around us.
Art and the Public Realm Bristol is Bristol City Council's public art programme for art and public spaces. The programme includes public art works commissioned as part of the planning system by developers and by the Council itself. Active since the adoption of a public art policy in 2000 to date over 100 projects have been developed within a diverse range of contexts, across housing, health, retail, education and local parks. For further information see the APRB website which contains a full archive of projects, and information on how to find works, along with audio recordings of artist's talks, event listings, opportunities and information on forthcoming projects.
Missorts by Tony White was commissioned by Bristol City Council as part of it's Bristol Legible City programme and was produced by Situations.
Missorts © Tony White, 2012.
Produced by Situations. Funded by Bristol City Council for Bristol Legible City.
All stories © the authors, 2012.
Edited and abridged by Tony White. Performed by Bryony Hannah and Benjamin O’Mahony. Produced by Nick Murphy at the Sound Company. Post-production by Jamie Telford.
Portwall Preludes by Jamie Telford.
All music © Jamie Telford, 2012.
Performed by Andrew Kirk, Director of Music, St Mary Redcliffe, on the Harrison and Harrison pipe organ, 14 September 2012. Recording engineer Andrew Phillis. Music post-production by Andrew Phillis.
All photos © Max McClure, 2012.
Missorts Volume II © Tony White, 2012
Research for Missorts Volume II was initially undertaken in 2007–8, supported by Media Office as part of the research phase for a planned public art programme for the redevelopment of the former Royal Mail sorting office, Temple Meads, Bristol, in association with Ginkgo Projects Ltd. Further research and completion of the novella was undertaken in Bristol and London throughout 2012 with the additional support of Situations and Bristol City Council.
This browser-based archive version of the project has been created by Thirteen for Bristol City Council. Original mobile app developed by Calvium.
With thanks to St Mary Redcliffe, especially Hester Jones, Pat Terry and Director of Music Andrew Kirk, Bristol Record Office, especially Allie Dillon and Julian Warren, students and staff of St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School, The Thomas Chatterton Society, Clare Reddington and the Pervasive Media Studio, Beth Alden, Calvium, Aldo Rinaldi.
