Three art works were created as part of the Future Memory in Place project. They were displayed/unveiled at the finale events on the 30 September – 1 October 2011. These artworks were:

1) A permanent sculpture based on the ancient artefact of the same name, the Tessera Hospitalis, sited at the National Waterfront Museum, Swansea.

2) A live performance of 1000 Colours Blue, a filmic piece accompanied by a score performed by a choir, derived from the blue colours (1000 Blues) collected from the Swansea landscape by participants. Performed in Castle Gardens, Swansea city centre, using the BBC Big Screen.

3) An exhibition of 800 postcards which arose from the participants’ many connections with places around the world, shown at the Oriel Bach Gallery, Swansea.


1000 colours of blue have been collected from observing the Swansea landscape by the local community, including pupils from: Cila, Cwm Glas, Cwmrhydyceirw, Dylan Thomas, Hendrefoilan, Morriston, Parkland, Sea View & St. Helens.

These colours have been painted onto 1000 canvases and each participant has a copy which is their tessera (link) to the project. They represent a shared experience of place that is not based in territory but through action and encounter. In the performance this landscape is re-imagined through colour and sound; evoking past experience of place and continuing the re-making of memory. Place, as in the ancient world was, and is, more tenuous than the land it rests on.

These collected blues from the Swansea waterfront have been translated by the landscape artist Catrin Webster into a film sequence.

The colours form the musical score that has been orchestrated to be sung by the choir, through the direction of Marion Wood and Michael Ormiston. Marion is a conductor, choir master, composer, and Director of Music at the University of Exeter. Michael Ormiston is a musician and expert in Mongolian overtone singing techniques.

Like the colours blue collected by the participants looking at the landscape, the sounds of Mongolian overtone singing have been created from listening to the landscape.

The blues are sung through a spectrum of colour-sound harmonics of which there are an infinite number.

Restricted Access: Some items in this collection are restricted, as they contain sensitive data regarding children or high resolution images. In order to request access to any such restricted data, please contact Dr Elena Isayev and Catrin Webster.

Recent Submissions

  • 1000 Colours Blue - A Sample of Blues Images 

    Isayev, Elena; Webster, Catrin (University of Exeter, 12 February 2013)
    This is a small sample of the 1049 ‘1000 Colours Blue’ images that were painted on canvas by school pupils during workshops conducted as part of the AHRC-funded 'Future Memory in Place' project. Each pupil attempted to ...
  • 1000 Colours Blue - All Blues Images 

    Isayev, Elena; Webster, Catrin (University of Exeter, 12 February 2013)
    The ‘1000 Colours Blue’ images were painted on canvas by school pupils during workshops conducted as part of the AHRC-funded 'Future Memory in Place' project. Each pupil attempted to replicate a shade of blue from the ...