If you’re passing along the Thames this weekend and wondering why there’s so many people hanging around with metal detectors then fear not, the world hasn’t gone mad.

It’ll all be part of a new interactive art installation that’s taking place this weekend as part of the Thames Festival 2012 programme. Lost and Sound is the idea of artist collection Output Arts who this weekend are inviting people down to use adapted metal detectors to try and find fragments of buried sound within the Thames’ sand.

It’s going to take a little imagination and lots of careful listening but if you’re passing by it’ll definitely be a fun way to waste half an hour.

The audio is made by of interviews with the local community each of who was asked to discuss the topic of ‘loss’.