Andy Parkes came to see A City Grown From Words at the weekend and user-tested the Difference Engine. He’s written a lovely blogpost about it:

“This sort of thing would ordinarily be off limits to a deaf or hard of hearing person as you just wouldn’t be able to following anything that was being said. Especially because performances were happening in various parts of the venue as opposed to a fixed stage. 

However, we were able to test something called “The Difference Engine”.”

Thanks Andy!

We’re open again tomorrow (Sunday) 12-4pm.

Come & say goodbye to the sorting office – and while you’re here, pen a letter to someone who’d enjoy hearing from you…

Audiences today said:

“It is very nice to note the passing of a much missed sorting office in such an imaginative and personal way.”

“Really exciting and inventive – enjoyed the interaction I could have with the event. And nice to see this building in use.”

“Excellent as ever from Talking Birds. And first TBs for 6yr old – who loved it. Mesmerised. Let’s write more letters, folks!”

“Loved A City Grown From Words. I encourge you to make it tomorrow.”

“Really enjoyed this celebration of the Bishop Street sorting office. Wonderfully evocative.”

For more info on times and location, scroll down or click here.

1. This is Bishop Street.

2. This is number 50 – the old Oxfam Homeware shop.

3. This shutter will be up so you can actually get in…

You can collect your item from A City Grown From Words in Coventry.

The “sorting office” will be open for one last time this weekend.

**Click here, print and bring with you to collect your letter.**

Quentin Cooper from BBC Radio 4 chaired the showcase event

Janet was speaking about The Difference Engine, which the DCD funded to ‘proof of concept’ stage. The Difference Engine is our bespoke in-pocket real-time subtitler which delivers access (and other) information to mobile devices at an event. We trialled it alongside Capsule last November and again for A City Grown From Words. We’re now fundraising to build version 2 – if you’d like to donate, please get in touch via birdmail [at] talkingbirds.co.uk.

For more information, visit the DCD Programme’s website.

Some of the comments made on twitter during Janet’s presentation

Coventry has always had a lot of mail passing in and out and through it. At one point, the Bishop Street sorting office handled more mail than any other in the country, and the post service has been an important part of the city’s economy since the 1920s.

Perhaps this was because the city had a lot to say, and those elsewhere had a lot to say back to the city. At any rate, there has always been such a volume of post – love letters, bills, postcards, job offers, dear Johns, good news, bad news, wedding invitations, official notifications, pay cheques, good luck cards, sorry to hear cards, and letters to Santa – flowing through Coventry that its easy to feel that the sorting offices still hum with them, even once the building has become empty.

A CITY GROWN FROM WORDS is an installation which is a reflection of deserted sorting offices everywhere. Places where words – significant or trivial, written or typed, tear-stained or computer generated – have been held and processed before spreading through the city, affecting and changing the lives of those who read them.

When: Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th March 2011.

Where: 50 Bishop Street (old Oxfam Homeware Shop – down the street from the Bishop Street sorting office),Coventry, CV1 1HW.
Open: 12 – 4pm
Admission: Free

A City Grown From Words has been made with recent Performing Arts graduates from Coventry University and is supported by Coventry School of Art & Design, Coventry University, Arts Council England, and Coventry City Council through its Small Arts Grants scheme.

Please tell us about significant letters you have sent or received by calling 0845 22 55 918 (24hrs, local rate); alternatively, tweet us @birdmail or email birdmail [at] talkingbirds.co.uk with SIGNIFICANT LETTERS as the subject.

One of these sets of pics is from the real Bishop Street sorting office and one is from the old Oxfam Homeware shop, which is where we are making A City Grown From Words – may not be too tricky to spot the difference, but we reckon the shop’s not a bad match for the sorting office – and once we have some projections, music and a bit of live action in there too…well, surely close enough?!

We’ve got three weeks in an empty shop in Coventry to make a show marking the closure of the Bishop Street sorting office. Three weeks isn’t long – and we need your help! Please tell us about your significant letters sent or received – tell us via twitter @birdmail or email or leave a message on our phoneline: 0845 22 55 918

Cheers!

still from Talking Birds’ 2007 film “2 letters’ (not that it’s an obsession or anything…!)