The famous hedge maze at Hampton Court Palace on the outskirts of London has reopened – with built-in sound effects. Now the pleasures of ‘getting lost’ are aural as well as visual, as 1000 sounds spring to life from hidden loudspeakers, triggered by the footfall of visitors.
The project is a permanent audio art installation called “Trace”, created for Historic Royal Palaces by sound artists Greyworld. Among the attractions maze visitors will experience as they try to find their way out:
- Fragments of music, snatches of laughter, the rustle of fine silks and whispers of conversations that disappear around the winding paths.
- Touch-sensitive benches creating sounds as people sit down.
- The sound of cymbals, a dog barking, an opened music-box and conversation from the ‘crew’ of Jerome K. Jerome’s “Three Men in a Boat”, who got famously lost in the maze.
The hedge maze is the oldest surviving of its type in the world, originally planted with hornbeam from the Netherlands around 1700. Replaced by yew, hornbeam has been reintroduced in the centre of the maze after a gap of 40 years. The renovation project has also included the resurfacing of pathways, easy access for wheelchair users and panels explaining the history and development of the maze. Open daily, admission £3.50.
Website: www.hrp.org.uk
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