Soft Ices is an arts project by the artist Mark Storer and composer

Jules Maxwell Dead Can Dance are an Australian music duo first established in Melbourne. Currently composed of Lisa Gerrard and Brendan Perry, the group formed in 1981. They relocated to London the following year. Australian music historian Ian McFarlane des ...

. Mark and Jules have been travelling around

Jaywick Jaywick is a coastal village in the Tendring district of Essex, England, west of Clacton-on-Sea. It lies on the North Sea coast of England, from London and from Colchester. It was constructed in the 1930s as a holiday resort for Londoners, b ...

in an

ice cream van An ice cream van (British) or ice cream truck (North American) is a commercial vehicle that serves as a mobile retail outlet for ice cream, usually during the spring and summer. Ice cream vans are often seen parked at public events, or near ...

, which has been given a new lease of life as a

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for sound recording, mixing, and audio production of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home project studio large enoug ...

, persuading local people to literally ‘sing for their supper’. In return for their songs, they are rewarded with free ice creams. Samples of their songs will be transformed into a piece of music which will be broadcast at the Tower’s opening. All those who recorded a song will be invited to collect their book, and anyone else who attends the event will also receive a book.

Description

From the

Jaywick Martello Tower Jaywick Martello Tower is a renovated Martello tower at Jaywick, south-west of Clacton-on-Sea, Essex. It now functions as an arts, heritage and community venue. History The tower was one of several Martello towers on the east coast of England. T ...

one hundred red ribbons, held by children, flutter from the rooftop to the ground, where they are pegged down. On the roof, there is another tower, a gift, a box full of books. Encased in the books a CD lies. The

Martello Tower Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand up ...

is like a giant

Maypole A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place. The festivals may occur on 1 May or Pentecost (Whitsun), although in some countries it is instead erected at ...

, around its base ''Carolina'' the ice cream van circles around and around, in a clockwise direction. From the ice cream van, haunting music is heard. Hundreds of peoples voices, fragments of songs, lullabies float out into the sky. We all wait, watching. From some distance away the strange, yet beautiful melody is interrupted by the hum of a small plane. The plane flies into view and heads in the direction of the Tower, training a brightly coloured banner. As it approaches it begins to circle anticlockwise. Seven times it circumscribes the Tower. On its seventh circuit confetti falls from the plane showering the Tower and the ground below. The ribbons are released and flutter to the ground. The sound from Carolina grows in intensity. This magical opening of the Tower on 17 September 2005 was the culmination of a year-long art project, Soft Ices.

References

"Soft Ices"
{Dead link, date=March 2023 , bot=InternetArchiveBot , fix-attempted=yes Essex County Council

Arts in Essex Ice cream vans Performance art