Some rather unusual creatures have flown into our fine city for festival-goers to spot this weekend.
Ten robotic woodpeckers could be seen - and heard - on the green outside Norwich Playhouse yesterday where they created a chorus of drumming that both surprised and intrigued passers by.
And the woodpeckers will also be popping up in other locations across the city over the next few days as part of the Norfolk & Norwich Festival.
The curious creatures transform invisible signals from mobile and wireless technology into beats that their beaks tap out onto architecture, and they are the creation of Berlin-based artist Marco Barotti.
'It's a line of work that I follow, trying to bond nature and technology, and I produce audio robotic animals,' said Mr Barotti.
'The woodpecker is a sonic intervention, in this case in the urban environment, and what I am doing is called sonification.'
Explaining how his birds work further, he said: 'I only work with audio, so everything that I do moves and reacts to audio frequencies, so (pointing out the different elements of the bird) this is an amplifier and this is an audio receiver, this is a loudspeaker. It's a simple full-range driver that is basically triggered with the very low frequencies and it makes them (the birds) move.'
Mr Barotti said he was pleased by how fascinated and enthusiastic people had been by the woodpeckers since they arrived in Norwich.
When asked where people could find them over the next few days, he said: 'They will probably move around the city a little bit. On Friday they are going to be at Anglia Square, and they are going to be at The Forum car park stairs on Saturday and Sunday, and maybe on Sunday there will be a surprise for Norwich - let's see how the weather is!'
n The Woodpeckers will be at Anglia Square today from 12pm until 6pm and at the stairwell in The Forum car park on Saturday and Sunday from 12pm until 6pm.
n Norfolk & Norwich Festival runs until Sunday. For more information, visit www.nnfestival.org.uk
n See page 14 for Norfolk & Norwich Festival reviews.
For more festival news and reviews, visit www.eveningnews24.co.uk
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