Gull Yellers and Noise Dwellers (2025)

16mm film commission in response to Birnbeck Pier


A reimagining of Birnbeck Island's acoustic past: gull cries, crashing waves, sudden bangs, dodgers and wheezers. A powerful collision of history, sound, and image.


A newly commissioned expanded film performance inspired by Birnbeck Island, early cinema (biocopes), and the experimental technologies once tested in Weston-super-Mare and across the Bristol Channel. This immersive experience delivers a visceral, audiovisual exploration of the region's layered history.


Crafted using hand-processed 16mm film, the performance combines live manipulation of lenses, light, and media with a live experimental soundtrack comprising noise, field recordings, and radiowaves.


Phillips draws influence from the island's lesser-known industrial and military past far beyond the pleasure cruises. This includes the "gull yellers," who were once employed to ward off birds from sprat fishing nets, and the clandestine research chronicled in The Wheezers and Dodgers: The Inside Story of Clandestine Weapon Development in World War II by Gerald Pawle. During WWII, Birnbeck Pier served as a secret site for the Directorate of Miscellaneous Weapons Development.


The performance is further informed by Birnbeck island's view of Flat Holm Island (Ynys Echni), a site of historical military and technological significance. In 1897, Guglielmo Marconi made history here by transmitting the world's first wireless message over open sea "Are you ready?" to Lavernock Point, 3.7 miles away, with the help of engineer George Kemp.


This performance contains live sound and visuals, loud noise and flashing imagery.