Iceland Calling

BBC Learning EnglishPeople and PlacesIceland CallingAmber: Hello, I’m Amber 1 and you’re listening tobbclearningenglish.comIn People and Places today, we meet an artist, KatiePaterson, who’s in a very unusual place – a lagoon 2 – that’s a small lake or a partly enclosed area of sea water – inIceland. And how do we hear from her? Well, via her mobilephone! Katie’s mobile number is ‘in lights’ as part of hercurrent artwork, or exhibit, in the Slade School of Fine Artin London.
　　If you dial Katie’s mobile, you’ll hear amazing sounds –the sound of icebergs 3 passing by and the sound of a glaciercracking and melting. This is because you’ll be connecteddirectly to the Icelandic lagoon where Katie sits with anunderwater microphone!
　　The BBC presenter 5 Kirsty Lang rang Katie’s mobile to findout more.
　　Katie explains her mobile number is displayed in ‘quite astark, empty white room’ at the Slade art school. ‘Stark 6’
　　is a wonderful adjective to describe a place which is soempty and without ornament 7 that you don’t really want to gothere. And she uses the word ‘besides’ to mean ‘as well as’ when she explains that in addition to her mobile number,there are some postcards at her Slade exhibit giving outinformation about her special Icelandic place. Notice too,that expression, to give out information (‘information that’s given out’), which is very common in English.
　　As you listen, try to catch one of the ways Katie describesher artwork inIceland. She says it’s a description of …?
　　Yeah, at the Slade itself, I’ve got quite a stark, empty,white room with a white neontelephone number on the wall. Besides the neon telephonenumber, I’ve got some small postcards which explain a bitabout the work, but that’s the only information that’sgiven out -people themselves can phone up.
　　(So when people ring up, they are going to be able to hearthe sound of a glacier 4 literallydying?)Yeah, yeah, effectively, I mean, it is a description of deathreally, it’s a kind of live meltdownof the glacier.
　　Amber: Sounds remarkable 9, doesn’t it? Did you catch Katie’
　　s descriptions of the Icelandic part of her artwork? She saysit’s ‘a description of death really’, ‘a kind of livemeltdown of the glacier’. You can use the adjective ‘live’
　　to describe anything that is broadcast as it happens – forexample, ‘Tonight’s concert is live from Paris’. And thepresenter asks if people can hear ‘the sound of a glacierliterally dying’ – ‘literally 8’ is a useful adverb toemphasise another word or phrase, in this case ‘dying’ –‘the sound of a glacier literally dying’. Listen again.
　　Katie PatersonYeah, at the Slade itself, I’ve got quite a stark, empty,white room with a white neon telephone number on the wall.
　　Besides the neon telephone number, I’ve got some smallpostcards which explain a bit about the work, but that’s theonly information that’s given out - people themselves canphone up.
　　(So when people ring up, they are going to be able to hearthe sound of a glacier literally dying?)Yeah, yeah, effectively, I mean, it is a description of deathreally, it’s a kind of live meltdown of the glacier.
　　Amber: Next, Katie was asked what she is trying to say withthis work of art. As you listen, try to decide if she ismaking a political point about global warming, for example,or if she is more concerned with making people think aboutother ideas.
　　I wouldn’t say I’m trying to be too didactic and notovertly political, either. I think it’s moreto do with the vanishing away of the world, and there’s aJapanese concept I’m quite interested in which is thetransience of the world and a gentle sadness at its passing,but Iwouldn’t really say that I’m an environmentalist myself,particularly, or an activist 10. It’s quite a quiet work andwouldn’t want anyone to think it’s a piece of propaganda.
　　Amber: So Katie doesn’t want us to think she’s made a‘piece of propaganda’ or that she’s being ‘overtly’ –that’s openly and intentionally 11 – political. It’s a‘quite a quiet work’, she says, and she’s interested in ‘a gentle sadness’ for the thingswe lose in life, or the things that are transient, that don’
　　t last. She says she’s not really ‘an environmentalist’,someone who works to protect the environment,or an ‘activist’, someone who takes vigorous action inpursuit of political beliefs.
　　Katie PatersonI wouldn’t say I’m trying to be too didactic and notovertly political, either. I think it’s more to do with thevanishing away of the world, and there’s a Japanese conceptI’m quite interested in which is the transience of the worldand a gentle sadness at its passing, but I wouldn’t reallysay that I’m an environmentalist myself, particularly, or anactivist. It’s quite a quiet work and wouldn’t want anyoneto think it’s a piece of propaganda.
　　Amber: More stories of people and places – with languageexplanations – next time, at bbclearningenglish.com