Prebends

Finished in 1778, Prebends Bridge was an intentional project in constructing a thoroughly Romantic, idealised image of medieval Durham. Famously depicted in J. M. W. Turner’s Durham, picturesque views of the cathedral, castle and woodland have made the bridge a popular tourist attraction. Now a busy thoroughfare within the increasingly metropolitan city, the once idyllic enclave has slowly become a site of aesthetic tension between history, idealism, and modernity.

Prebends is a soundwalk across Prebends Bridge, using geolocated sound as an overlay to connect and contrast the myriad (conflicting) ideals and histories attached to the bridge with the experience of the present.