Stolen Voices

Stolen Voices is a multi-component output consisting of four performances, an album, a peer-reviewed journal article and a book publication. The output is a collaboration between Rebecca Collins (University of Edinburgh) and Johanna Linsley (University of Dundee). Stolen Voices forms part of their five-year (2014–2019) project which invests eavesdropping as a method, combining this with a semi-fictional detective story. An ‘event’ has taken place in 4 sites on the UK coast (Bournemouth, Felixstowe, Seaham in County Durham and Aberdeen) and Collins & Linsley have been tasked to investigate. Eavesdropping is both subject and methodology of the research. Fieldwork in the form of site explorations and the practise of eavesdropping is combined with research into social, political and economic dynamics at the borders and margins of the UK, such as immigration and the impact of climate change on coastal landscapes. Outputs: see Appendix, page 28.

1. Performance Stolen Voices Seaham, County Durham (2016).
2. Performance Stolen Voices Aberdeen (2017). 3. Performance Her Figure a Song (2019).
4. Performance Stolen Voices 001 album launch (2020).
5. Stolen Voices 001 album (2019). The album was also released as a digital version with liner notes, enabling open access.
6. Necessary Note, Independent Art Press, Copy Press (delayed due to Covid-19).
7. Rebecca Collins, and Johanna Linsley, ‘Stolen Voices is a Slowly Unfolding Eavesdrop on the East Coast of the UK’, Arts, Vol, 8, issue 4, 2019.

Stolen Voices received a total of £33.5k in funding from national and regional funders, including Arts Council England, Silver City Stories and the Live Art Development Agency and institutional support from 9 independent organisations. For a full list, see Appendix, page 28. The work has been presented at CCA Glasgow, Aberdeen Performing Arts, SoNADA Festival, Granite Noir Crime Fiction Festival and Union Docs, amongst a number of other venues. See Appendix, page 28. It has also been disseminated through conference presentations, research seminars and media appearances. See Appendix, page 28.