Visitors to Victorian Market Tune in to Radio VM

Visitors to Inverness Victorian Market are invited to tune in to Radio VM – a new audio feature that will greet them at the city shopping precinct between 11 am and 4 pm tomorrow (Friday) and Saturday (23/24 January). As part of the ongoing Inverness Old Town Art (IOTA) Programme to bring more people into the market, an international team of artists – Nicola Atkinson, Karen Vaughan and Hanna Tuulikki – aka BWCart - have been commissioned to design new entrance features at Union Street, Church Street and Queensgate. 

Radio VM is a series of sound installations at the entrances. The content of these ‘sound gates’ has been suggested by, or recorded with, the market traders and members of the public and edited by the artists.  These ‘sound gates’ greet people as they enter the market and have been created to trigger memories and note movement through the market.  These soundscapes reflect the way that both the public and traders have related to the artists and aims to play with the space.

The RADIO VM event is taking over the internal sound system in the Victorian Market with a pre-recorded radio show hosted by BBC Scotland’s John Cavanagh.  Music playing during the show has been chosen by the Market Traders and features diverse range of requests including Snow Patrol, Led Zeppelin, Runrig, Elvis, Amy MacDonald and The Prodigy.  Podcast will be available later featuring Inverness poets Colin Begg, Jessica Parkinson, Jennifer Morag Henderson, Fiona Rintoul, Katherine Messruther and Lisa Mullholland, interviews with traders and sound bites which explore the markets character and history – from www.nadfly.com.

Susan Christie, Commissions Manager for IOTA, said: “This unique experience will show the traders and their musical choices in a new light and remind us all that the market is the true heart of the old town.”