A vital and poignant new art installation explores our disconnected attitude to war debut at pop-up gallery Garden Walk in London’s Shoreditch from 13-16th June.and acts as a keen observation of the conflicts currently raging in Gaza and Ukraine.

Called “Cease. Fire”, the sound installation has been created by London-based artist and composer Matthew Wilcock. “Cease. Fire” features 20 cassette players in a grid hanging from the ceiling, playing looped recordings from social media videos and news reports from conflict zones including Ukraine, Russia, Israel and Palestine. Sounds include grenades, bombs, rockets, people hiding from gunmen and children being mortally wounded. The tapes will gradually degrade as the exhibition continues as a metaphor for how our memories of media reports about violent events fade over time.

Matthew explains: “It’s really hard to reconcile or make sense of these conflicts and how they’re depicted in the media and how they affect us. At the source of these recordings, there’s life-changing, horrific events. Explosions that have levelled apartment buildings, shopping malls, whole city blocks. But we consume and share it on social media for content, views and clicks. The installation forces you to focus on these sounds, events that changed peoples lives, and purposefully process what they are and where they came from. It feels eerie, sad and a bit overwhelming when you take them all in at once.”

Matthew is currently working on a series of new piano and electronic pieces featuring Little Voice and Road star Jane Horrocks. As a music artist, he amassed over two million streams and has seen support from the likes of BBC 6 Music, Boiler Room and The Guardian. Matthew also scored the BAFTA nominated feature film Apostasy and Palme D’or winning film Waves ‘98.

The exhibition is open to the public from 13-16 June and is at First Floor, 4 Garden Walk, EC2A 3EQ, 12-4pm.