Valley Vibes -De Vibe Detector
© Jeanne van Heeswijk,
Amy Plant & Chora

Valley Vibes, since 1998 active in London, is a project which assists Chora, office for Architecture and Urbanism in mapping 'London sector A'. 'London sector A' is a marked strip in East London which is a designated area for regeneration.

The Vibe Detector is not an art object but it is designed as a research tool to operate over a long period of time and to be integral to the life of certain areas rather than be intrusive. As an instrument it hoovers up information as it moves through the area. It will be taken by local people on an urban journey which allows for them to control the nature of the information documented about their neighbourhood and, therefore, attempts to engage and create new dialogues.


(image1-a part of London sector A)

This Vibe Detecting service tool is reminiscent in its appearance of a hybrid between a giant ghetto blaster and an ice cream trolley, and it can function as a cross between a portable karaoke set, a radio station and a conferencing set. It is of simple design, built from gleaming aluminium, and is small enough to fit in a domestic doorway, tall enough to stand or sit behind. Four trolley wheels ensure that it can travel through the streets to people's private parties, the local hairdressers, the market place, the night club, the latest poetry reading, school events, official meetings and debates, local festivals or wherever desired.


[image 2 - the Vibe Detector brought to your home]

Inside the Vibe Detector is a complete professional sound kit - a popular resource for playing records, tapes and CD's and for mixing - sophisticated but 'user-friendly'. A DAT recorder will automatically make a high quality recording of the material played through the equipment every time it is in action.


[ image 3 inside the Vibe Detector

The project is aimed at giving people a voice and also enabling them to influence an historical reading of their area and its image. By means of the Vibe Detector people are asked to stage their event, to actively produce culture, to become an actor in their own surroundings - to act up. By recording this a mapping of cultural production in an area is made, while at the same time stimulating people to take part in cultural production themselves or even control it. This is done by simply giving people a resource, access to material they do not have. In order for a broad local public to really benefit from the detector we also offer people a complete service providing advice and publicity material for their events and a technician. The Vibe Detector is advertised through the base venues which act as a temporary host in a locality and other local channels. It is offered free of charge to people in the area. In order to obtain it for the night, day or weekend, people just have to make a booking and we are at their service.


[image 4 - publicity material in the area ]

Vibe Detector logbook of bookings:

[image 5 & 6]

VV29 20.11.99 Valley Vibes Day - the Cafe at Oxford House Performances by: 'Nico & Levy' local acoustic duet, 'The New Breed of Alternative Workers', local DJs, John Burton's Sonic Experience

The purpose of this Saturday afternoon event was to allow people who were interested in booking the Vibe Detector a chance to see it action. The Gallery Cafe at Oxford House provided a relaxed setting for a range of performances and people were invited to help themselves to tea and biscuits. The first performance was an impromptu song by 'Bobby Mack' (this is his 'stage name'). I had met 'Bobby' in one of the local chip shops whilst putting up a poster and he decided to come and see for himself and to add his own talent to the event. Nico (Nicoline van Harskamp) & Levy are a local folk duet who performed folk classics with Nico on guitar and Levy on Jews harp. This was followed by an experimental DJ set by Saulyus from 'The New Breed of Alternative Workers'. Lastly, electro-acoustic musician, John Burton, plugged another mixing desk and other effects boxes into the Vibe Detector for a live, atmospheric session which included the use of his hand made electric instruments.

The day was well attended, resulting in at least four bookings from people who had heard about the event from mail outs, an article in the community nespaper - 'Bethnal Green Scene' and through word of mouth.


[image 7]

VV42 21.2.00 Valley Vibes meets Cuba Hits - Holland Hall, Oxford House RAP Productions Music & Video Workshop. Booked by RAP

RAP Productions are a group from Oxford who work with young people using participatory video to encourage awareness of environmental issues. They are particularly involved in Agenda 21 and On the Line. They were keen to do a project in London and Joanna Vogiatzaki had suggested that they use the Vibe Detector and Oxford House. They came to the Valley Vibes Day and decided to fix something for the half term holidays. The workshop followed a project they had done with young people in Cuba. They wanted London teenagers to create a video about their area to send back to Cuba and to try their hand at Latin music. It was intended that the music created would be recorded on the Vibe Detector to use as a sound track for the video. This workshop comprised of a small group of local young people, some from the Bengali Youth Movement. (Surprisingly, it had been very difficult to get people interested). The workshop began with the 'name game', a way to introduce camcorder use. This was followed by a viewing of the Cuba video. Some lads had brought their records to play on the Vibe Detector so they had a go at DJ-ing, while others went out to film people on the streets as they asked them about the area. When they played this video back we used the Vibe Detector to record it's sound. RAP had also brought two musicians with them who specialise in Latin drumming and percussion. They played some of their own rhythms and taught the others to play along.


[image 8]

VV30 21.11.99 London Chest Hospital Christmas Bazaar - York Hall, Cambridge Heath Road. Booked by Pat Gray

This Christmas Bazarre is an annual fundraising event for the London Chest Hospital in Bethnal Green. Pat Grey had found out about the Vibe Detector from a leaflet that was mailed to her office. She thought it would be a good opportunity to play Christmas songs for the day. The Vibe Detector amplified her CDs and tapes of Christmas classics such as operatic carols and seasonal pop hits, which wafted over the various stalls of hand knitted dolls, bric-a-brac, tombolas and toys and other surreal attractions such as a giant Postman Pat and a jolly policeman. The eager shoppers filled the large hall and the music added to the spirit of the event. Pat and the jolly policeman used the Vibe Detector to call out the winning numbers of the raffle and the winners came to collect their prizes which included hampers and drinks. The day was evidently a great success as they raised over £4,000 for new hospital equipment.


[image 9]

VV32 1.12.99 DJ Practise by Qaiser Iqbal and Edward Sunar- Holland Hall, Oxford House. Booked by Qaiser and Edward

Qaiser and Edward are two local A'level students who met about three years ago at secondary school. They had read about the Vibe Detector in the Bethnal Green Scene and had come to the Valley Vibes Day. For the two lads, the Vibe Detector presented them with a chance to practice their DJ skills in time for a party that was to take place at Tower Hamlets College where they study. They told me that they had not had much experience with mixing as they usually play guitar. So I arranged a time for them to use Holland Hall to make as much noise as they liked. Four hours passed very quickly for them, during which they played their CDs and tapes non-stop in the empty hall. An experimental, eclectic mix including diversities such as the Foo Fighters, The Beastie Boys, Bjork, Led Zeppelin and popular Bengali music was created. They were very loud and very pleased because they would have been permitted to do that at home!


[image 10]

VV35 11.12.99 Bingo Club Pensioners Christmas Party -Cranbrook Community Education Centre, Cranbrook Estate. Booked by Lesley

Lesley runs the Cranbrook Community Centre practically single-handedly, on a low budget. She lives on the estate with her children and the centre caters for their neighbours. A Valley Vibes leaflet had come through the centre's doors giving Lesley an idea for her Christmas parties. As Lesley and I wheeled the Vibe Detector past Tescos we bumped into her family on their way to buy the cream that had been forgotten for the mince pies. They laughed at the size of the machine and our efforts. But Lesley assured them that it was worth the price of "blood, sweat and tears!". The Centre had been decorated with tinsel, there was a glistening tree and party hats and Martini awaiting the pensioners. They are an intimate group who meet regularly for bingo. Lesley had brought some records and CDs of her own and one chap had brought his tapes. As Martin could only stay to help set up I was asked to operate the Detector to play their requests. They started with Christmas songs from 'The Ultimate Christmas Collection': Bing Crosby, Cliff Richard, Johnny Mathis, Chris De Burgh and others. While they ate their party food they requested Jimmy Rosselli and a compilation tape called 'Soft Lights and Music'. There was a small raffle and then to get them in the mood for dancing Lesley played Elvis Presley, the Beatles, Pat Berry, Russ Conway a 60s mix compilation tape and old East End pub songs of which they knew all the lyrics. They were a very lively group and the floor was full of couples dancing romantically together. After ABBA and Ray McVay and more energetic dancing, Lesley used the microphone to sing along with a Max Bygraves track. As she sang this song to her mother, the mothers eyes filled with tears. Then Lesley got the others into the singing mood by taking the mic to their tables and encouraging them to sing along. Most sang with great pleasure and confidence. They finished the night with some more contemporary tunes by artists such as Britney Spears, Lou Bega, Steps and Geri Halliwell.



[image 11]

VV26 27.8.99 Afternoon Party for young Asian people- Holland Hall, Oxford House, Derbyshire Street. DJ - 'Sin'. Booked by youth worker - Nigel

Nigel is employed by Tower Hamlets as an outreach youth worker. He finds groups of young people to work with in public places such as street corners and at football matches. He had only known this particular group of Asian boys for two weeks. He has a small budget to provide activities for the young people and this particular group were keen to have a party. Nigel had heard about the Vibe Detector from someone at the 291 Gallery and had booked the hall at Oxford House for the party. A couple of the boys played their own records. They had invited about fifty people and had decided to hold the party in the afternoon in the hope of attracting some Asian girls, who are not allowed out unchaperoned after dusk. However their plan had been in vain and there were no girls to be seen. Some of the boys engaged in their unique style of dancing and decorated the hall with disco lights. However they decided to cut the party short after two hours and left to rethink how to go about planning the next event.


[image 12]

Valley Vibes moving through Bethnal Green