Last month, Cavalry 360°, a vast site-specific musical instrument designed by NEON opened on the banks of the North Tyne, UK. The structure uses the force of 32 wind turbines to create an ever-changing sound of the cavalry moving across the landscape—horse’s hooves hitting the ground.

Arranged in a circular form to allow people to step into the work, Cavalry 360° measures 3.5 meters high and 12 meters across. In the setting of a quintessential English landscape, the work seeks to connect the visitor to the place's long history, manifested in the preserved walls of the Roman cavalry fort. The constantly altering in direction and rhythm sound is created by beaters, the number of which represents the 500 horse that used to inhabit the site.

Kevin Booth, Senior Curator at English Heritage, noted, "It is designed to connect the viewer with the environment, to invite people to look through the work at the landscape beyond, to pick up the sound on the wind, to experience the beaters working at differing speeds as the wind rises and falls—and as the horse gallops or trots."

Imitating something physically long-gone and acknowledging the way the horse changed mankind’s relationship to the landscape, the Cavalry is both thought-provoking and fun. 

The installation will be on view at Chesters Roman Fort until November 5 2017. For more information visit www.hadrianscavalry.co.uk.